Border staff ‘catching 100 fake Covid certificates a day’

OVER 100 people a day are trying to enter the UK using fake Covid-19 test certificates, MPs have been told.

Speaking at a parliamentary evidence session border staff warned it was “very easy” to forge the documents, which are currently required to enter the UK.

Lucy Moreton, an officer at the Immigration Services Union (ISU), which represents border immigration and customs staff, also warned that long queues at airports were a “breeding ground” for the virus.

But asked how border agents were able to verify proof of a negative test, Ms Moreton told MPs on the all-party parliamentary group for coronavirus: “We’re not, is the simple answer; it’s predominately taken on trust.

“We do get 100 or more a day of fake Covid certificates, that we catch.”

Ms Moreton said the easiest way to catch the fake documents was “if there is a spelling error somewhere” but that the foreign language of the certificates made this hard.