Blackburn couple fined for not having Covid forms at Manchester Airport

Ashleigh Golaub, 30, of Arbour Drive, Blackburn, had the charge of not filling in the legally required document prior to departure, and a second charge of not possessing a Covid-19 testing package upon arrival in England, proved in a hearing on September 5.

On July 18, James Wrigley, 32, of the same address in Arbour Drive as Golaub, also appeared at in court charged with the same offences on the same date.

The hearings both took place at Tameside Magistrates’ Court in Ashton-under-Lyne, and heard how on May 24, 2021, Golaub and Wrigley landed back in England at Manchester Airport, having travelled from outside the Common Travel Area (the UK and Ireland).

They failed to provide information on a passenger locator form upon arrival back in the country, and also contravened the requirement to book a day two and day eight Covid-19 test.

Both these offences were in breach of the Health Protection (Coronavirus) Regulations 2021.

Tameside Magistrates' Court. Pic: Google Street View

The charges against both Golaub and Wrigley were found proven in single justice procedure hearings which neither of them appeared at.

Magistrates handed Golaub a fine of £1,760 and ordered her to pay costs of £85 and a surcharge to fund victim services of £176, for a total amount of £2,021, to be paid by October 3.

Wrigley also received a £1,760 fine and a victim surcharge of £176, but had to pay costs of £90 for a total amount of £2,026, which he had to pay off by August 15.

These amounts added up to £4,047 in total for the two defendants to pay for their offending.

Single justice procedure hearings are used to allow summary-only, non-imprisonable offences to be dealt with by a single magistrate based on the papers alone without any parties having to attend court for a hearing, and it allows magistrates to get through a higher volume of cases.