THE launch of the Scottish Government’s vaccine passport scheme has been a “shambles”, according to late-night trade group the Night Time Industries Association (NTIA) Scotland.
The system, which requires visitors to certain late-night premises to show evidence of double vaccination, came into force at 5am on 1st October. Enforcement will commence on 18th October.
NTIA Scotland chairman and owner of the Sub Club in Glasgow, Mike Grieve, said the launch led to “chaos and confusion” as venue customers struggled to access the Scottish Government’s app.
“As anticipated, the roll out of this ill-conceived policy led to chaos and confusion in the street last night with only a handful of our customers in possession of a functioning app passport,” said Grieve.
“Around 50 to 60 others had a photocopy or screenshot of the wrong vaccination information or other spurious evidence of vaccination. Despite this we successfully checked all attendees for same day (lateral flow tests) to protect the health and safety of our customers and staff. What a shambles!”
NTIA Scotland member and owner of Glasgow clubs The Cathouse and The Garage, Donald Macleod, added that the launch of the scheme had been “problematic and highly confusing”.
“This is an APP-ALLING shambles which if allowed to continue will have a devastating effect on the very fragile night-time economy,” said Macleod.
“This ridiculous ‘Big Brother’ experiment and infringement of an individual’s civil rights should be dropped immediately.”
