How foreign nationals pay for the quarantine

I READ the article on page seven headlined “5,000 people quarantined new figures reveal” (Cyprus Today, September 5) and was a little confused as to its intention and what seemed to be a great omission.

The article doesn’t appear to be news, is it a boast or just the quantifying of statistics? The omission is the contribution by UK and other nationals for their quarantine.

Please let me tell you our little tale on this subject. Having been cheated out of our legitimate passage by ferry to our home in Ozanköy from Taşucu, my wife and I spent three months locked in Turkey, when we got news of permission and the costs involved, over a thousand pounds.

We tried to pay the fee by card on the internet, not possible as the information provided was not enough – lots of IBAN numbers, but no account name.

Obviously we informed all concerned in Cyprus, so off to the nominated bank clutching our trusty credit card, ‘Sorry Mr Steve we don’t take credit cards’ – yakidding in this day and age – ‘you need to pay in cash’.

Out of their door to their ATM machine and five cards later with huge costs incurred we went back into the bank holding folding, ‘Sorry Mr Steve we can’t take cash, you need to go to Silifke to the government offices and get a tax number’ – ya-kidding, we need to get on the ferry tomorrow.

Ah, a thought; I called the Mersin Consulate, Serdar, who had helped us a lot and suggested we drive to Mersin and give him the cash, ‘No, no, no Mr Steve you can’t do that’ – yakidding.

The ATM that will accept our card therefore payment can be made to the IBAN-number – not a chance.

You always think it’s you, so back to the computer, I must be making silly mistakes; oh no, can’t be done.

At last we chatted to our new pal and chum, the owner of the hotel we had been staying in for three months, ‘Jump in the car and we’ll go to the bank again’.

This time a different manager said ‘yes, you need a tax number, but if we split the fee in half everything will be just fine’. Success!

Then to Girne, the Boss was refused entry after having been given permission by the Mersin Consulate so a four-hour stand-off at the port, driven to a very tired hotel for 15 days, and in all that time not one person from the government or the hotel knocked on the door just to see if we were OK.

Cyprus Today has requested information from the Finance Ministry with regards to the total amount paid by UK and other foreign nationals for quarantine services. We have yet to receive a response.