Woman harassed in quarantine hotel despite new rules
- Published
Another woman has been sexually harassed in hotel quarantine despite new rules designed to prevent it.
Last month the government said female guests would get female guards.
However, Lorna Farmer, 28, walked out of the Hilton Garden Inn at Birmingham airport a week ago, after a guard offered to "entertain" her in her room.
The Department of Health and Social Care now says it will introduce a new phone line for women to report harassment confidentially.
Eighteen women have now reported harassment to the BBC - two of them since the DHSC took steps to fix the problem in July.
The new measures included a new dedicated complaints system and extra training for guards on how to behave around lone women, as well as the plan for women to be supervised by female guards "when available".
Lorna Farmer says, however, that she was only escorted outside on exercise breaks by male guards.
She says she began receiving unwanted attention from a security guard employed by the company, Mitie, soon after arriving at the Hilton Garden Inn on Sunday 25 July.
He asked to see her in her pyjamas, and asked to enter her room, she says - knocking repeatedly on her door and sometimes sitting on the floor outside it.
Hotel quarantine
Travellers arriving from countries on the UK's red list have to quarantine for 10 full days in designated hotels
Nearly 124,000 people had been through the system by mid-July
The cost is £1,750 for a single adult, rising to £2,285 on 12 August, external, and includes Covid tests on days two and eight
Guests must stay in their room at all times except when escorted outside by guards for exercise - food is delivered to the room and guests do their own cleaning
Security companies are hired by the government - the maximum value of Mitie's contract from February to October is £19.6m, the maximum value of G4s's is £66.5m
On one occasion, when she was cleaning her room, he said: "Why don't you put that Hoover down and I'll come in and entertain you."
Ms Farmer says he repeated this another five times within the space of 10 minutes.
When she complained to the head of the security team in the hotel, from the company Mitie, the guard was removed.
But Ms Farmer says a different guard had also made lewd comments to female guests during their exercise break, so she still felt unsafe and got her father to come and drive her home.
She then reported the harassment to police in Northamptonshire, where she is from.
Mitie said: "Should a complaint be raised by a guest a full investigation is carried out. In this case, the investigation found that the officer had not followed our procedures and therefore is no longer working on the contract."
Asked whether he was still working for Mitie, and whether he might now be working at a different quarantine hotel, a spokesperson said she could not share personal information about staff.
Lorna Farmer's first quarantine hotel, the Hilton Garden Inn at Birmingham airport
The Hilton Garden Inn emphasised that security firms were contracted by the DHSC and fell outside its responsibility.
The DHSC said: "Sexual harassment or abuse is completely unacceptable and totally abhorrent. We take all such allegations extremely seriously and we expect providers to take firm action - including suspending staff or reporting them to the police where appropriate - as has happened in this case."
It said the new confidential reporting line for lone female guests would be staffed by recently retired and trained police officers.
Another woman, who is still in quarantine, says that a male security guard knocked on her door twice in one evening, giving a transparently bogus reason for wanting to talk to her.
She said she was not reporting the incident because she felt unsafe and was not leaving her room.
Ms Farmer told the BBC that when she went outside for exercise at the Hilton Garden Inn, she was always escorted by a single male guard, despite the DHSC's intention that lone female guests should get female guards.
Three other women quarantining since the rule change have told the BBC that they too had male guards.
Others have said that they have mostly had female guards, though one added that "once you're outside it's like being a walking exhibit with male guards sitting all around the parking lot like it's a gallery and looking you up and down as you walk".
In July, the government said that if female guards were unavailable, lone women should be escorted by two male guards, "with each guard chaperoning the other to ensure appropriate behaviour".
This idea was sharply criticised by some women's safety campaigners and, judging from the reports of women in quarantine, appears to have been rarely adopted in practice.
Lorna Farmer's second quarantine hotel, the Crowne Plaza NEC
After walking out of the Hilton Garden Inn on Friday and spending the weekend at home, Lorna Farmer was called on Tuesday by an official who told her that West Midlands Police were looking for her, and that she could be arrested and fined £10,000 if she didn't return to quarantine.
She says she felt very uneasy when two men then arrived in a van with darkened windows to accompany her to another quarantine hotel, the Crowne Plaza NEC. Here she was escorted outside for exercise by a female security guard, but says she only saw male guards on her corridor.
Mitie says there was a female guard on her floor at all times, and that at least two female officers were always on shift at each hotel, in line with DHSC guidance. The company added that it was taking active steps to increase the number of female officers working in quarantine hotels.
According to the Security Industry Authority only 10% of licenced security guards in the UK are women.
Tips from a solo travel expert
Carry a door wedge or jammer in case your door doesn't have a second lock. These should prevent anyone entering, even if they have a master key. Always use the peep hole or door chain before opening the door to anybody.
Identify the security company at your quarantine hotel and find emergency contact details - eg whistleblower numbers on their website. Note names, ID numbers or identifying features of anyone harassing you. Save notes and approaches via social media. Report the incident if and when you feel safe to do so.
Be an ally if you see others being harassed. This may include recording the incident, taking notes, asking if the victim needs help, calling out the bad behaviour or reporting it.
Speak to a loved one - when you're afraid, you may be less able to process events logically. A loved one may help you assess the situation and decide on the safest course of action, which may be to call the emergency services.
Carolyn Pearson, founder of Maiden-Voyage.com
Ms Farmer says she thinks it is "ridiculous" for lone women to be forced to quarantine in hotels when their safety cannot be guaranteed.
"The woman from public health said, 'Lorna, are you aware that West Midlands Police are looking for you, that they've put you down as absconded?' I was like, 'No, I spoke to Northamptonshire Police and reported everything that's happened, and they are absolutely happy with me being home.'
"And she was like, 'You have to come back today, otherwise we will come and get you and you'll be prosecuted and fined.' And I was like, 'Are you serious? After everything that's happened?'"
Ms Farmer was allowed to leave the hotel on Thursday, 11 days after she arrived in the UK from Dubai.
West Midlands Victims' Commissioner Nicky Brennan said she was "disgusted" to hear how women were being treated by security staff in quarantine hotels.
"The government who have given the contract and the security company need to investigate the practices, training and conduct of staff with urgency. People who are quarantining in hotels at the orders of the government should not have to feel unsafe when following those rules.
"This would appear to be a problem across the country with security staff in these hotels. It's worrying for anybody, especially lone women that they could be treated in this way. They should not be put in this position by a government which is meant to be keeping them safe."
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