Covid-19: Travel restrictions cancel Christmas for many

Changes to the rules mean many people find themselves away from their loved ones this Christmas

Christmas plans for many in the UK who had hoped to travel home in the coming days have changed dramatically.

Surging case numbers and a more infectious variant of the virus discovered in Great Britain has led to tougher travel restrictions.

In Scotland, a ban on travelling to the rest of the UK over the festive period has been implemented.

A number of European countries, including the Republic of Ireland, Germany, France, Italy, the Netherlands and Belgium are all halting flights to the UK.

Ministers in Northern Ireland met on Sunday night to discuss travel from Great Britain to Northern Ireland, but nothing was agreed.

Health Minister Robin Swann is to consult with Northern Ireland's attorney general about the legality of a ban on travel from Britain.

But grounded flights and cancelled crossings mean many families will be spending this Christmas apart from each other.

BBC News NI has been speaking to some people who have unexpectedly found themselves separated from their loved ones this Christmas.

'The risk is too big'

Cait MacDermott from Londonderry lives and works in London, and had been due to return home on Sunday.

However, she decided the risk was "just too big" and and took the "heartbreaking decision" to cancel.

Cait MacDermott had been due to travel on Sunday

"It is obviously really sudden, it's affecting so, so many people's plans. I know my other friends from Derry in London aren't getting back either," she said.

Last week she had taken a coronavirus test in preparation for travelling home, which came back negative.

But as new restrictions were imposed in London, she had to re-think her original plans to spend Christmas with her family.

"I just wouldn't feel comfortable sitting beside my granny next week. Even if I did get back I would have felt bad or worried," she said.

"It is heartbreaking I won't be seeing them this Christmas, hopefully in January I can get something booked and have something to look forward to."

'It does feel emotional'

Denzil McDaniel, a journalist from Fermanagh, and former editor of the Impartial Reporter newspaper, will be celebrating this Christmas for the first time without his son Paul, who is stuck in Glasgow.

"It is difficult because, he has been living Glasgow for some years, he always makes it home for three or four days for Christmas," he said.

Mr McDaniel said he had sensed his son was "feeling a bit of pressure" about coming home, despite Denzil telling him not to worry.

Denzil McDaniel's son Paul will not be making it home from Scotland this Christmas

He said the decisiveness of the Scottish government had been a relief, as it took the decision out of Paul's hands, and was something he wished he could have seen in Northern Ireland.

"To be perfectly honest, I feel the decision-making process here in NI has been shocking," he said.

"I think they should be a bit more understanding of the pressure that people are under, and should be very clear."

Mr McDaniel said his other son had travelled back earlier from university in Liverpool, and would be home.

"It does feel emotional... Christmas Day is always a quiet day anyway, we'll have a nice family day, we'll be fine," he said.

"There's a lot of other people that I feel sorry for, an elderly person on their own, or somebody who needs somebody."

'We haven't seen mum for a year'

"I was really, really looking forward to coming home," said Deborah Lees, originally from Coleraine, but working as an intensive care nurse in north London.

She has not seen her own mother since February, and after deciding not to travel back, will not see her until the new year.

Mrs Lees said the flights for she, her husband, and their children had been booked for Sunday - but it would have been irresponsible to go ahead with travelling.

"I suppose people turn around to me and say that you shouldn't have been going anywhere anyway. But, you know, I wanted the kids to see their grandmother.

"I just feel like it has been a really difficult year, and I just think from a wellbeing point of view it was going to be good for me, and for my mum, and for my kids as well."

'Does your dad want brandy butter'

When Andrea Watt realised her 82-year-old father, who has dementia, would be spending Christmas alone, she received help from an unlikely source.

Ms Watt has lived in Scotland for the last thirty years, and said watching Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon announced travel restrictions - which meant she would not be able to get home to Holywood - was like "a deck of cards" falling on her.

On Saturday, The Fall actress Bronagh Waugh tweeted about the difficulty of explaining to her mother-in-law, who has dementia, what the new travel restrictions would mean for Christmas.

On Twitter, actress Bronagh Waugh has been boosting calls for help from people apart from their loved ones this Christmas

Seeing similarities with her own situation, Ms Watt interacted with the actress on Twitter, and a short time later was inundated with offers of people wanting to drop in on her father, and deliver Christmas dinners to him.

"I have been absolutely overwhelmed, not only by the support through Bronagh's tweet, but with the local neighbourhood watch forum," said Ms Watt.

"The first lady said: 'Does your dad want brandy butter with his Christmas pudding? I'm delivering it at 2 o'clock.'

"I've explained to my dad, if somebody offers you a Christmas dinner, just say 'thank you'."

Bronagh Waugh, who appeared along with Ms Watt on BBC's Good Morning Ulster programme on Monday, said "we are hoping we see a lot more of that this week".

"A lot of us are in the same boat, lots of us have relatives that we are really worried about," she said.

"I know hundreds of people from Northern Ireland who are stuck now in England in tier four, or in Scotland.

"There are going to be a lot of people who are in the same boat. So I just figured, why don't we all stick together."