PCR test firms highlighted on the Government’s own website are buying tests at cost price before selling them to travellers with mark-ups of up to £100, according to an industry leader.
Some operators are even adopting nonsensical names in order to appear at the top of the list seen by consumers, the chief executive of one of the UK’s leading testing firms said.
One company yesterday removed itself from the list, citing concerns about laboratory capacity.
Natalie Kenny of BioGrad Diagnostics accused some competitors of buying tests from her company for £50 and advertising them on their own websites at huge mark ups to unsuspecting members of the public preparing to travel to and from the UK.
She claims to have reported a number of these “profiteering” firms to the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) and the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), but said that even when companies are removed from the Government’s list of PCR test providers, some simply reapply for accreditation under new names and reappear.
The Government has admitted that the providers listed on its…
