An Irvine family who recently returned from attending a funeral in the Netherlands have been left angry and confused after unexpectedly being placed into a 10-day hotel quarantine and having to fork out over £4,000 for the stay.

Gordon Bonar, 68, and his partner, 70, his sister, also 70, and her partner, 75, flew to Holland last week to attend his sister’s funeral.

The family claim to have acquired all the correct paperwork and taken all the relevant precautions to allow them to travel for an essential purpose including presenting a COVID medical certificate from their doctor proving that all family members have been fully vaccinated and two lots of negative coronavirus tests on both ends of the journey.

The pensioners say they were under the impression that because they were fully vaccinated and every test came back negative, that they would be allowed to self-isolate in their own home for the required 10 days. However, after landing at Glasgow Airport on Friday, May 14, they were informed by airport staff that because they didn’t have an official email stating that they were exempt from hotel quarantine and could isolate at home, they were “thrown in” to the Holiday Inn Express without explanation.

Mr Bonar has since been informed “in confidence” by a hotel worker that the stay is set to cost a whopping £2,400 per couple, although this is yet to be made clear to the family by any other body.

Mr Bonar told the Times: “My sister passed away and she resided in Vlaardingen so we had to get over there. We had to get a local test before we went which was £99. We’ve got all the paperwork and emails for it so we thought, that’s fine. We got on the plane and went to the funeral which was on Tuesday. We got a test done in Holland to get back here on Friday as it was a72 hour thing. All tests came back negative and we’ve had our two vaccinations in the UK.

“When we arrived back at Glasgow Airport, we were asked at immigration if we required a coronavirus test for arriving back in the UK. We said no, we are exempt. They didn’t accept that. They’re saying we should’ve had an email to confirm exemption.

“I’ve got COVID medical certificates from my doctor before we left... but arrivals didn’t want to know. They just threw us into the hotel. We’re going to have another swab test after the first two days and if that’s negative, we’ll have another swab test after eight days. If that’s negative, they’ll let us go after 10 days. And how much money are they asking for this? £2,400 per couple. It is ridiculous.”

He added: “You can’t move about the hotel, it’s horrible. We’re in their clutches now and have security standing outside our door. We’ve already paid over £700 between the four of us for tests and now it’ll come to £4,800 altogether.

“We’ve never had COVID. Every test we’ve had is negative and we’re fully vaccinated. I feel as if they’re holding us to ransom. This is just a license to print money.”

From May 17, Netherlands was placed on the amber list of countries that Scots can travel to for essential purposes only. According to the Scottish Government website, if you’ve been in an amber list country in the 10 days before travelling to Scotland, on arrival you must isolate at home or in the place you are staying for 10 days and take a COVID-19 test – on or before day two and on or after day eight of your 10 day isolation.

There is no mention of a requirement to quarantine in a hotel.

Mr Bonar continued: “My sister doesn’t have good health and she was nearly hospitalised with stress when we got here, she was so up to high doe. She’s in her room breaking down. My partner is also Type 2 diabetic and has COPD so she is waiting on medication.

“There is no mention of what they’re going to charge you after the 10 days. Even in the email there’s not a price mentioned. They keep it all back then hit you with a whopping bill.

“We’ve done everything to the letter. It’s like a nightmare.”

A Scottish Government Spokesperson said: “We have every sympathy with this family in this difficult situation. However, the rules around international travel are in place to limit the risk of importing new cases and variants and there are very limited exemptions to the quarantine rules.”

Holiday Inn Express said they were unable to comment as it was a Health and Social Care issue.