Anyone returning to the UK from a red list country must isolate in an approved quarantine hotel for 10 days at a cost of more than £2,000 per person. That includes people who are fully vaccinated and have tested negative for Covid on their return.

Law firm PGMBM said it issued the proceedings because it believes detaining double jabbed people is an “unlawful deprivation of liberty” and “violates their fundamental human rights”.

The firm said if the claim is successful, fully inoculated travellers would no longer have to quarantine at the hotels, and it could also pave the way for the government to refund the fees of all those who were vaccinated and still had to stay there.

More than 60 countries are currently on Britain’s red list including Egypt, Thailand and Turkey.

Tom Goodhead, managing partner at PGMBM, said: “It’s disappointing that the government hasn’t yet realised that this policy is a fundamental breach of people’s human rights. Law-abiding citizens who have been double vaccinated should be free from hotel quarantine.

“The idea that they need to pay for the privilege of their own imprisonment is outrageous.

“The government should look at the actions of almost every other major country in Europe who are exempting the double vaccinated from all forms of quarantine including hotel quarantine which most countries regarded as to extreme to even introduce in the first place.”

PGMBM is inviting anyone who was forced to stay in hotel quarantine to register their details at www.hotelquarantinelawyers.com if they are interested in joining the potential claim for a refund and compensation in the future.