A man who is staying in a quarantine hotel following a visit to Pakistan says he is eating left over food to open his fast.

Travellers must stay in hotels to quarantine for ten days after arriving from a ‘red list’ country.

Muslims are expected to fast from sunrise to sunset during the holy month of Ramadan which began on Tuesday and were told they would receive meals at sunrise and sunset.

In a letter to guests the hotel had apologised for ‘the delay in service during their stay’. From 4am last Friday (April 9), international visitors who departed from or transited through the Philippines, Pakistan, Kenya and Bangladesh must now quarantine in a government-approved hotel for 10 days.

The 'Managed Quarantine Hotel Package' – includes accommodation, breakfast, lunch, evening meal and hot and cold drinks, two Covid tests and transfer from the port of arrival to and from the hotel at the end of your quarantine. Hotel stays for the period cost £1,750 and are paid for by the traveller, and they are provided three meals a day.

The traveller from Blackburn is staying at The Radisson RED Hotel just outside Heathrow Airport. He arrived in the UK on Saturday after missing the deadline by a day.

He said: “The meal at sehri (the dawn meal) arrived 20 minutes after I was meant to close my fast.

“Then on Wednesday night nothing arrived. I had to open my fast with some left over dates from the day before. I ordered out just in case and lucky I did otherwise I would have no food whatsoever after having fasted for 16 hours!

“Worse still the next morning (Thursday) no food arrived. I am like trying muster together left over scraps of food like cereal, leftover fruit and juice.”

Guests were told to order the food by scanning a QR code. But then got told to write on a piece of paper and leave it outside.

The guest told us, “It seems after the early hopes of it being efficient things have got worse.

"I am only asking for two meals rather than the three I am entitled to."

Travellers had been told on arrival: “During managed quarantine, Ramadan will be very different, however we have made some adjustments to support you during this time while maintaining the stringent measures that are in place to stop the spread of potentially harmful variants into the UK.

“The hotel will arrange for halal and vegetarian options to ensure you are catered for. If you are observing fasting during Ramadan the hotel will make arrangements to provide you with meals at Suhoor (dawn) and Iftar (sunset).”

In a letter to guests the hotel apologised in delays to food service and said: “As you know we have using a QR code to record orders and unfortunately for a number of reasons the accuracy of information available has been complete hence the wrong order, delays and meals not being delivered.”

The letter then goes on to ask guests to complete their order and place this outside the room and also tell staff if they are observing Ramadan.

When we spoke to the man earlier this week he was more upbeat after reading the Ramadan welcome pack on arrival, “I was quite apprehensive but having arrived here it seems they have everything in place and the staff are happy to serve meals at 4am and then again after 8pm.

“We have been given a Ramadan information pack with details and answers to many of our questions. Of course I would rather be home spending Ramadan with the family but the rules are the rules and they are for the benefit of everyone.”

Travellers have also been told: “To ensure we follow managed quarantine guidelines communal prayer space will not be in place. Families that have interconnecting rooms are able to congregate for prayer, families that are in different rooms cannot congregate for prayer. We are unable to provide prayer mats and holy texts. Additional clean towels can be requested if you require these to make prayer.

“Although we are unable to provide holy texts there are a range of online mobile applications which can provide a digital version of the Holy Quran and other religious texts.”

The Department of Health and Social Care were contacted for comment and asked to clarify the arrangements made during Ramadan.

The hotel has been contacted for comment.