Ministers faced growing fury today over the “failing” test-and-trace system with people being told they have to travel hundreds of miles to get a test.
Police last night turned desperate parents away from one of London’s main drive-in Covid-19 testing centres, in Edmonton, which shut after becoming “over-booked”.
In Walthamstow, MP Stella Creasy said the council had been told by the Department of Health not to tell people to turn up at a new walk-in centre — meaning people were being redirected to places such as Coventry, 130 miles away, and Oldham, 203 miles away.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock blamed the chaos on the testing system being flooded by people who were not eligible.
Labour accused the Government of “staggering incompetence”, saying it had been obvious that more testing would be needed as schools reopened and more people went back to work.
Some people were unable to book tests on the NHS website early this morning. It said: “This service is currently very busy. More tests should be available later. If you cannot book a test now, or the location or time are not convenient, try again in a few hours.”
One father from Plumstead who had been trying all day to get a test for his two-year-old son was advised to drive to the testing centre at Edmonton.
After a two-and-a-half hour drive through “horrific traffic” they arrived to find police cars blocking access to it.
He told the Standard: “My son woke up with a slight cough so we thought we should get him tested. I eventually managed to book a test at 6.30pm after spending the morning struggling to get a slot on the website, which at times was throwing up centres in Aberdeen and Oldham as my nearest options.
“I drove from Plumstead and was about half a mile away when we hit a tailback. I was stuck for another 90 minutes before eventually getting to the entrance more than an hour late. Police were turning people away. An officer said the centre had shut because too many people had turned up for a test. I couldn’t believe it. I explained we had been in the car for more than two hours. He said some people had been stuck in traffic for three hours and waved me on.”
One person wrote on Twitter: “We’ve just driven 50 miles from Colchester to Lee Valley Park [the Edmonton centre] for a Covid test to be turned away. This is despicable … This needs to be sorted, it’s a shambles.”
Ms Creasy said her office had been “inundated” with constituents unable to book tests locally. People were being offered tests in Gatwick, Luton and Newport in Wales in addition to Coventry and Oldham.
She said she had heard of only one person being able to book a test at the new walk-in centre in Walthamstow. “There were more security guards than [people seeking a test] when I was there,” she said.
Mr Hancock said a “record number” of tests were available and “capacity was higher than it ever has been”.
He told BBC Breakfast: “We have seen a rise in the number of people who are not eligible for a test coming forward and getting those tests. If you don’t have symptoms, unless you have been asked by a clinician or a local authority to get a test, you are not eligible for a test. We want the tests to be available for people with symptoms.”
He said he had heard of schools seeking to get their pupils tested – a situation which he said was “not acceptable”.
Mr Hancock said: “About 25 per cent of the people who come forward, we estimate, are not eligible for a test.”