Passengers travelling through the airport and harbour who have a valid medical reason are no longer required to wear a face mask or face shield.
Although current circumstances require everyone using the terminals to wear a face covering, Ports of Jersey does, on occasion, allow exemptions for the wearing of them for those passengers with certain medical conditions and hidden disabilities, such as hearing or breathing difficulties, which makes it hard for them to wear.
To ease the process and make their journey more comfortable, Ports of Jersey has now launched a ‘Hidden Disability’ face covering exemption card, which passengers carry with them so they can be easily identified by staff. It is a similar process to the successful ‘Hidden Disability’ lanyard scheme, which Ports of Jersey introduced in December 2018, which immediately alerts staff that the user may need additional time or consideration when travelling and allows them to engage with them appropriately.
Customer Relations Manager for Ports of Jersey, Sarah-Louise Stubbs, explains: “We are conscious that for some passengers the wearing of a face mask or shield can be very challenging when travelling through our ports, especially for those with a ‘hidden’ medical condition that is not immediately identified. Therefore, to make it more comfortable and reassuring for them we have extended our ‘Hidden Disability’ scheme to include this exemption card. The lanyard scheme has already proved successful in the 18-months since we first launched it and we now wish to extend it by providing the face mask exemption card to other passengers who may find it beneficial”.
The exemption card can be collected from the Customer Relations Desk at Jersey Airport, but passengers must provide documented evidence of their need for this exemption, such as a medical certificate/doctor’s note. There is no charge for the card.
