A 30-year-old man tried to escape from a quarantine hotel this morning after claiming he was being held ‘under duress’.

Anthony Pium, has gone on hunger strike in the Radisson Blu Edwardian hotel, near London Heathrow, where a wall of security guards stopped him from leaving.

The dad-of-one told staff ‘I know my law innit’ as he insisted on them letting him out of the front entrance for ‘air’.

When an employee tried to stop him, he said: ‘Boss, are you pushing me? Are you feeling alright? Don’t assault me. Don’t stand in my way, I’m getting fresh air.’

Mr Pium, from Leyton, East London, then told staff to ‘social distance’ from him, adding: ‘By law, you’re blocking my way. Am I being detained? I didn’t sign nothing so I’m not required.

‘Touch me and everyone will be sued. It will be a civil matter with all of you. I’ll call my people right here now you know. Do you lot want me to make phone calls?’

Under new quarantine rules introduced on Monday, people returning to England from high-risk destinations on a ‘red-list’ have to isolate in a hotel for 10 days at a cost of £1,750.

Passengers are required to fill out a passenger locator form before their arrival to show where they have been and those who try to dodge the new system face a £10,000 fine, 10 years in prison, or both.

Staff can decide when guests are allowed outside, such as for exercise, fresh air, or a cigarette, and they will be accompanied by security.

But workers at the Radisson Blu made it clear to Mr Pium that no one was allowed out of the front entrance.

Mr Pium says he only filled out the passenger locator form so he would ‘be allowed back into Britain’ after flying back from Sao Paulo, Brazil, where he was working for travel agency Sky Fly Travel.

He says he wrote ‘under duress’ on the document and that he knowingly provided details of a bank account with only £17 in it so the payment of £1,750 would be declined.

The Arsenal fan told MailOnline: ‘I just wanted to get back into the country, quarantine at home and see my son, who is eight, and I’m really missing him.

‘I can’t believe I’ve been treated like this. I’ve been held captive under duress. They’re trying to serve me processed food which I don’t eat.

‘Somebody cut up a chicken tikka salad which did not look like a chicken tikka salad and I refused to eat it. I am on hunger strike. I won’t touch any of the food they give me.  They have to let me out of here.’

Mr Pium said he is sure he doesn’t have coronavirus as he took a test before he left, which is a requirement.

But regardless of this, people staying in one of the UK’s quarantine hotels are still required to take two tests, one on day two and another on day eight.

Mr Puim says he is hoping to get legal help to help him get out of the hotel and says he has a ‘business to run’ and a ‘life to live’.

Earlier, he held up a message on his laptop for the media to see, reading: ‘I have been held here against my will. They lost my suitcase.

‘I have nothing. I have no essentials. I have told them I can’t breathe. Police told me I can’t leave without a doctor’s exempt note. Please send legal help or something. Thank you.’

Another message he showed said: ‘I’m being held against my will. No clothes, no essentials and I haven’t eaten.’

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