Skip to content 
Search

Latest Stories

Private PCR Covid test firms let down travellers entering UK

Private PCR Covid test firms let down travellers entering UK

TRAVELLERS are forced to fall back on the NHS as private providers are accused of failing to deliver kits and test results, also not refunding customers.

A Covid-19 testing company, RT Diagnostics, co-owned by a former Labour justice minister and a Labour councillor has been accused of failing the travellers, The Guardian has reported.


RT Diagnostics is one of hundred of firms to have got approval to sell PCR tests to travellers planning to enter England. However, the provision of allowing the private sector has drawn criticism over allegations of poor service against several companies.

According to reports, travellers to the UK have spent at least £500m on PCR tests from private companies since mid-May.

The Guardian report says that customers who paid for tests at RT Diagnostics, their kits arrived late or not at all, or that they never received results. It added some called the NHS, which can make exceptions and offer free tests for travellers.

Replying to the allegations, the company said in cases of lost kits they bear all the costs and mostly refund people 100 per cent of the time.

Former justice minister Shahid Malik and Calderdale councillor Faisal Shoukat are listed as shareholders in RT Diagnostics and Real Time Diagnostics.

Malik has a majority stake in RT Diagnostics, held through a company of which he is the sole shareholder called Premier UK Life Sciences. The company was set up in February 2021, a month before RT Diagnostics was incorporated.

Now, RT Diagnostics say that Malik was no longer a director of the company and had no managerial responsibility. It also said it was no longer selling test kits and has not been since mid-June.

Moreover, the company website states that tests are out of stock, with the company no longer appearing on the list of government-approved test providers.

More For You

Modi set for UK visit to sign free trade agreement

FILE PHOTO: Keir Starmer (L) with Narendra Modi. (Photo: Getty Images)

Modi set for UK visit to sign free trade agreement

INDIA's prime minister Narendra Modi is likely to travel to the UK by the end of this month for a visit that could see both sides formally sign the landmark India-UK free trade agreement and explore ways to expand bilateral ties in the defence and security sphere, diplomatic sources said.

Both sides are in the process of finalising the dates for Modi's visit to the country by the end of July or the first part of August, they said.

Keep ReadingShow less
Rishi Sunak returns to Goldman Sachs, will donate salary to charity

Rishi Sunak. (Photo by Carl Court/Getty Images)

Rishi Sunak returns to Goldman Sachs, will donate salary to charity

FORMER prime minister Rishi Sunak has returned to the banking world as senior adviser at Goldman Sachs group, with plans to donate his salary to the education charity he recently established with his wife Akshata Murty.

The US-headquartered multinational investment bank, where Sunak worked before entering politics, made the announcement on Tuesday (8) after the requisite 12-month period elapsed since the British Indian leader's ministerial term concluded following defeat in the general election on July 4 last year.

Keep ReadingShow less
 Post Office Horizon

A Post Office van parked outside the venue for the Post Office Horizon IT inquiry at Aldwych House on January 11, 2024 in London.

Getty Images

Post Office scandal linked to 13 suicides, says inquiry

Highlights:

 
     
  • Public inquiry finds up to 13 suicides linked to wrongful Post Office prosecutions.
  •  
  • Horizon IT system faults led to false accusations, financial ruin, and imprisonment.
  •  
  • Sir Wyn Williams says Post Office maintained a “fiction” of accurate data despite known faults.

A PUBLIC inquiry has found that up to 13 people may have taken their own lives after being wrongly accused of financial misconduct by the Post Office, in what is now described as one of the worst miscarriages of justice in British history.

Keep ReadingShow less
UK ramps up drought response following driest spring

The EA has begun conducting more compliance checks on high-usage industries

Getty Images

UK ramps up drought response following driest spring since 1893

Key points

  • Spring 2025 was England’s driest and warmest in over 130 years
  • Reservoirs across England only 77% full, compared to 93% average
  • Environment Agency increases monitoring and drought planning
  • North-west England officially declared in drought

Water conservation measures stepped up ahead of summer

The UK government has increased efforts to manage water resources after confirming that England experienced its driest and warmest spring since 1893. The Environment Agency (EA) reported that reservoirs were on average only 77% full, significantly lower than the usual 93% for this time of year.

The announcement came after a National Drought Group meeting on Thursday, which reviewed the impact of continued dry weather on crops, canal navigation, and river flows. Poor grass growth and dry soil conditions were noted as threats to food production and livestock feed.

Keep ReadingShow less
Norman Tebbit

Following Thatcher’s third general election victory in 1987, Tebbit stepped back from frontline politics to care for his wife. (Photo: Getty Images)

Getty Images

Former minister, Thatcher ally Norman Tebbit dies at 94

Norman Tebbit, a close ally of former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher and a former Conservative Party cabinet minister, has died at the age of 94. His son William confirmed the news on Tuesday.

"At 11:15 pm on 7th July, 2025, Lord Tebbit died peacefully at home aged 94," William Tebbit said in a statement.

Keep ReadingShow less