What happened when our weather presenter tried to book a coronavirus test

What happened when our weather presenter tried to book a coronavirus test after his son showed symptoms.

With so many people finding it nearly impossible to book a test when presenting with Covid-19 symptoms it didn’t fill me with joy when, at the start of the week, our youngestdeveloped a new cough.

Having just started nursery and cutting four new teeth at the same time we weren’t surprised he was under the weather, but Covid? It seemed unlikely…

However, a symptom was there so the internet beckoned to rule it out officially through atest at our local centre.

After so much media coverage about the online booking system, I was concerned about the length of time it would take to book.

I was right to be.

After a few minutes of filling out various details and tick boxes a screen appeared telling methe system was busy and more tests should be available later.

Please check again in a few hours.

Six hours later I was given the chance to go to Warminster (a two hour drive) but I was kicked out of the website after selecting the test centre.

Back to the form filling, only to be presented with a “no tests available” message again.

By 9pm (12 hours into the process) the next offer was Cardiff or Swansea, 70 miles away.

From Exeter? Clearly the nearest test centres are selected as the crow flies.

It’s actually 148 miles from home and a 5 hour round trip.

This morning I was offered Exeter!

I couldn’t believe it, so acted as fast as I could to select a time and enter the vehicle registration number.

This is as far as I’d got yet, but, pressing continue threw me back out to the front page of the gov.uk website again, without a confirmation email, and there’s no point turning up to a test centre without an appointment.

We’ve now managed to get a home testing kit, arriving tomorrow, so hopefully a result willarrive by the end of the week.