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Would-be quarantine escapee vows to SUE Daniel Andrews after baffling hotel isolation ‘mix-up’ saw him ‘wrongly’ forced to stay 14 days – and he may face a $19k fine
- Would-be quarantine breaker says he has been to a lawyer and will sue
- John-Lee Berridge says health authorities made a mistake about quarantine
- Tried to bust out of Tullamarine Holiday Inn, Boxing Day – now he’s done 14 days
- Doesn’t know if he’ll get a $19,000 fine for escape attempt – but he won’t pay
A defiant man who made a daring attempt to break free from a Melbourne quarantine hotel has vowed to sue the Victorian government.
John-Lee Berridge, 24, says he was wrongly forced into Victoria’s hotel quarantine after he flew to Avalon Airport, Geelong, at 7pm on December 21, before the midnight deadline for Victorians returning from NSW.
The state quickly shut the border to NSW after a series of new coronavirus outbreaks, but the speed at which it was brought in – as well as confusing rules – left many travellers baffled.
Mr Berridge says he had the right travel permit, and should have been allowed to quarantine at his mother’s Werribee, Victoria, house – but health officials disagreed.
Mr Berridge has a Victorian license with a NSW address and says he lived in Maroubra in Sydney’s eastern beaches for 2020 since he couldn’t get back to Victoria due to the pandemic
John-Lee Berridge (pictured above) could face a whopping fine of $19,000 for attempting to flee from hotel quarantine in Melbourne – but he says he won’t pay and will sue Victoria instead
He tried to escape from quarantine, was caught by police and sent to the Novotel South Wharf to serve out the remainder of his 14-day quarantine.
On Monday night, he was freed after completing his stay – however he claims the health authorities made a mistake and he has gone to a lawyer to see about suing the Victorian government.
‘I’ve been working it through with the lawyer, he said I’ve got a solid case after everything that I’ve been through and all the documentation I’ve got,’ he told the Herald Sun.
Mr Berridge said he was not sure if he would have to pay the hotel bill for the 14 days of quarantine.
He also did not know if the Victorian government would fine him $19,000 for trying to escape – but he has already vowed not to pay them if they do.
Mr Berridge was sent straight from Avalon Airport on December 21 to the Tullamarine Holiday Inn where he spent six days before he reached boiling point.
On Boxing Day, he made a break for it, and walked out of the hotel.
Mr Berridge managed to evade five security guards before he was caught by police in the hotel car park.
The interior designer (pictured above being detained by police) said he was ‘mistreated’
John-Lee Berridge, 24, says he had the right permits to enter Victoria and stay at his mum’s house in Werribee, to isolate instead of hotel quarantine
The interior designer said he had been working in Sydney in 2020 and living in Maroubra in Sydney’s east – but is a Melbourne resident and holds a Victorian license with a Sydney address.
‘I usually come back and forth (between the two states) but because of COVID I couldn’t come back (to Melbourne) so I stayed (in Sydney) this whole year just working,’ he told 7News.
Mr Berridge said health officials were ‘reviewing his case’ and he was told he would be free to leave hotel quarantine by Christmas Day.
When that didn’t happen, he said he became anxious, saying he was ‘mistreated’.
‘It just built up to too much I couldn’t take it any more. Once I get to that stage I can’t control myself,’ he said.
‘I was given false hope every single day,’ he said. ‘It just dragged on for days, could have told me my exemption wasn’t going to be accepted.’
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