Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Covid passports branded an ‘unmitigated disaster’ after weekend of queues and abuse

Nightclubs are to shut for three weeks

The Scottish Government’s vaccine passport scheme faced its first major test at the weekend – and was dubbed an “unmitigated disaster”.

There have been fresh calls for the scheme, which requires people to show proof of full vaccination before they can get into nightclubs and large events, to be scrapped.

The Scottish Hospitality Group (SHG) said staff have faced “intolerable levels of abuse” and some venues experienced a drop in footfall of up to 40%.

The group which represents many of Scotland’s popular restaurants and venues claimed the government failed to provide enough guidance for the scheme, which has been legally enforceable since October 18.

New evidence found that there were 550 incidences where staff had to reject people due to having no vaccine passport, an ineligible passport, or potentially fraudulent passport.

Long queues built up as staff checked each person’s vaccine passport, adding to the frustration, particularly for those at venues closing at midnight.

System ‘undermines’ enjoyment of night-time venues

Speaking on BBC’s Good Morning Scotland today, Stephen Montgomery, from the Scottish Hospitality Group, said: “The first weekend of the vaccine passports scheme has been one of unmitigated disaster – and that responsibility lies entirely at the door of the Scottish Government.

“The experience of this weekend shows that the result has been intolerable levels of abuse of our staff, and the creation of an atmosphere that will totally undermine anyone’s enjoyment of our night-time venues.

“How can we rebuild customer confidence when we are the ones being faced with the customer anger and confusion, whilst being made to enforce this policy in law, which has been made simply to increase vaccination levels in the younger demographic?

“The reality is that it’s not vaccine passports that will end this health crisis – Government themselves have acknowledged that the solution is an acceleration of booster vaccinations.

However, the Scottish Government insists the system is a “proportionate” way of encouraging people to get vaccinated while allowing venues to remain open.

A spokeswoman said: “Covid-19 certification is a proportionate way of encouraging people to get vaccinated, and also of helping large events and night-time hospitality to keep operating during what will potentially be a very difficult winter.

“This means many businesses will not have to close and can continue to trade whilst making necessary adjustments to ensure their premises are as safe as possible for staff and customers.

“Officials continue to engage regularly with the sector to discuss implementation of the scheme.”