TRANSPORT Secretary Grant Shapps says people are expected to 'apply a bit of common sense' when booking holidays after confusion around amber list countries. 

Mr Shapps also said he wanted passengers arriving from amber and red list countries to be segregated in airports.

Asked why holidays were still being sold to countries which are on that list, Mr Shapps told Sky News the Government had moved away from a system where things were “banned and illegal” to a situation where people were expected to “apply a bit of common sense”.

He urged people to have “a little more patience as the world catches up with our vaccine programme”.

Meanwhile, he told the BBC: “A lot of this is to do with the practicalities, of course, and everybody has to be tested before they are even able to get on to a flight to the UK.

“But I do want to see people separated out as much as is practically possible and we have asked, and I think Heathrow will respond to this at the beginning of next month.”

There was “excess space” due to the low level of travel and Heathrow is examining using a “spare terminal to bring in perhaps the red flights separately”.

The Transport Secretary also urged people to be patient and wait for the global coronavirus situation to improve if they wanted to go on holiday to countries that were currently on the “amber list”.

Decisions on expanding the green list would depend on data showing the state of the pandemic in the various countries, he said, adding that it data in constantly under review. 

“We are reviewing this all the time, every three weeks, the next review is in the first week of June and we’ll have to see what happens,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today.

Mr Shapps added: “Our message is very straightforward, which is ‘just a little bit of patience, everyone’."