Covid passports: Club owner's mum gives out lateral flow tests all night

Rich Gilbert says 30% of people arriving at his nightclub didn't know they needed a Covid passport - so he got his mum Karen to help

A club owner's mum spent all night showing clubbers how to do lateral flow tests, because so many of them hadn't brought a Covid passport with them.

Rule changes last week mean that to get into nightclubs in England, you have to prove you've been double-jabbed or had a recent negative lateral flow test.

Rich Gilbert says about 30% of people who went to Cafe Parfait in Southampton on Saturday didn't have a Covid pass.

His mum Karen helped test people on the door of the club from 11pm until 4am.

Rich, 36, managed to get hold of the rapid tests - that give a result within 15 to 30 minutes - from a friend who runs another business, who had spares.

Karen made sure the tests were done properly and that people were uploading the results to the NHS app, so that they could then get on with their nights out.

"If we hadn't have done the testing on the night we probably would have lost half of our customers," Rich tells Newsbeat.

• Where will I need to use a Covid passport?

• Covid passports 'devastating' for nightclubs

Karen, 64, worked for a lot longer than she'd expected to - but did get a few tips for the hours she spent out in the cold.

"People were happy she saved their night out, because if she hadn't have done that, they would have been going home early," Rich says.

Clubs re-opened in England in July 2021, but as of last week you need a Covid passport to get in

Covid passports have now been brought in in some form in all four UK nations.

Nightclub owners have said they'll have a devastating impact on businesses.

The Night Time Industries Association said the rule change in England came at the worst possible time, with the pre-Christmas period "absolutely crucial" for the sector.

Rich, who also co-owns Switch nightclub, says he understands that keeping people safe is important but agrees the rules are frustrating.

"Anything like this, extra hassle on a night out, is going to cause people to not want to go out as much and we're going to see a drop in numbers," he says.

But he added: "In a way I was happy we got to do the tests on the front door for some people, because people could just be faking them at home."

• Faking test results to get pass to be illegal in Wales

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Rich is now planning to have a dedicated staff member in charge of checking people's lateral flow results - but says doing this makes a tough job even harder.

"It's taxing for my staff to have to deal with people who are slightly intoxicated - it's hard enough dealing with them on a normal night," he says.

"It's a real machine to get people through the door to try to generate some revenue."

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