Family Pontins vacation took a flip after discovering thriller girl in dad’s mattress
A dad got one hell of a surprise after a family dinner at Pontins.
Joined by his mum and son, Jon Austin paid a visit to the budget UK holiday chain’s Camber Sands site before it abruptly closed with immediate effect.
By all accounts he was happy enough with their £347 holiday which bagged them a four-night stay in a “club” unit on a half-board basis along the East Sussex coast
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Things took a turn at the “1950s council estate flat” accommodation, however, when Jon discovered a woman in his bed, with no explanation as to how she got there.
Writing for the Liverpool Echo, Jon said: “Around 8.30pm, after dinner, we returned to our unit, full and ready to relax for the night. As we stepped into the kitchen, something caught our eye-there was movement under the covers of my bed.
“A pile of clothes on the floor hinted at something amiss. Trainers by the door, sandals inside, and even a pair of slippers scattered about.
“And then I saw it-a woman’s head peeking out from under my duvet.”
Absolutely baffled, Jon’s first thought was that he’d walked into the wrong accommodation, but a quick look around confirmed that this was indeed their unit. Cautiously approaching the real-life Goldilocks, Jon whispered: “Excuse me, but you’re in our room.”
The snoozing squatter stirred, looked a bit surprised, but ultimately ignored him and went right back to sleep, snuggling deeper into my duvet.
“You can’t stay here,” Jon insisted, trying to wake her up. Eventually, she began to show signs of life, and worried that she might not be fully dressed, Jon retreated to the kitchen to give the pillow pirate some privacy.
When sleepy squatter finally emerged, she was clearly worse for wear. She insisted that she’d used her key to get in and, after some confusion, they discovered that her actual accommodation was at the opposite end of the park.
Somehow, in her drunken state, she had found a unit in the same position as hers but in a completely different block. She collected her trainers and slippers, offered a slurred apology, and disappeared into the night.
Jon said: “I was left wondering how she’d gained entry. Was it possible that Pontins had a limited number of key combinations, allowing one key to open multiple units? Security assured me that each key was unique, but I wasn’t convinced.
“After she left, my son noticed that one of the windows to the main room was slightly open. It was damaged and couldn’t be closed properly, but it could be opened fully from the outside. Her trainers had been left outside by this window, and her slippers were found inside near it. It seemed likely that this was how she had entered.
“We called security again, and after some effort, we managed to secure the window. The staff were polite enough, but no formal apology was offered, nor was there any gesture of goodwill for the inconvenience.”
The dad explained he tried to lodge a complaint at the park, but gave up after discovering the manager unavailable and wrote to Pontins after.
The firm replied: “If any guests is found to have breached our terms and conditions regarding their conduct/behaviour they risk being removed from the park. We are committed to providing the highest standard of customer service and facilities and we welcome customer feedback, constructive or otherwise.”
“As per our terms and conditions, we can only investigate and resolve complaints that have been logged with the duty manager team whilst residing on park and as we have no guest solutions form or evidence to indicate or support this issue was raised with the team and left unresolved then we must inform you we are unable to assist further.”
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