‘Disgusting’ Thomas Cook hotel staff threaten to call Spanish police on Brit holidaymakers unless they pay £ 1, – The Sun, Thesun.co.uk
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A BRIT holidaymaker said Thomas Cook hotel staff threatened to call the Spanish police if they don’t pay their £ 1, 100 bill today.
Callum Weston, 27, and Bethany Sharp, 23, have been told they have to pay up at the Bahia De Lobos in Fuerteventura or else the cops will get involved.
The couple got engaged at the start of their 10 – day holiday on September 18 after paying more than £ 2, 000.
He claims the hotel manager had threatened to put them on the streets – but eventually let up and said they could stay last night without making a payment.
However, the receptionist told Callum if he didn’t make a payment he was going to call police.
Callum told The Sun Online: “The receptionist said to me that if we didn’t make a payment the police would be informed.
“I asked him‘ What are you going to arrest me on? ’
‘SLEEP WITH ONE EYE OPEN’
“I haven’t broken the law. He didn’t explain why the police would be involved – it was just a threat.
“The manager of the hotel said we could stay tonight without paying and hopefully tomorrow morning the issue will be resolved.”
But the couple are looking to leave anyway after the way they say they’ve been treated.
He added: “We are looking to leave. It has devastated her.
“It is disgusting how they are treating us. We will wait to see how it plays out in the morning.
“I am going to sleep with one eye open tonight. I am half expecting them to bang down the door. ”
Questions and answers
Q: I am still on holiday. Can I carry on and how do I get home?
A:Under the Civil Aviation Authority ATOL scheme all package hol customers can carry on and will be flown home as close to their original date as possible. Seethomascook.caa.co.ukor call 0 300 303 2800 (UK and Ireland) or 44 1753 330 330 (when abroad).
Q: What if my hotel wants cash?***
A:Refuse. Hotels need to contact ATOL themselves. If you do have to pay, keep all receipts and you will be reimbursed under ATOL. You can also claim for expenses.
Q: What if I only bought flights?***
A:Normally you do not get ATOL protection but the CAA says everyone will be brought home.
Q: I’ve booked but haven’t traveled yet. What happens to my holiday?
A:You are also covered and will get a refund, but it will take time.
Q: My booked hol does not include a flight. Am I still covered?
Other Thomas Cook holidaymakers stranded across Europe and North Africa have been ordered to stump up hundreds of pounds or risk sleeping on The Beach.
A British couple with a sick nine-month-old daughter were said they were held “hostage” and told to pay £ 917 by “smirking” staff or else they would get the boot.
Stephen McGonnell and Stacey Robinson, whose daughter Olivia is sick with a chest infection, were handed handwritten invoices at the Hotel Troya in Tenerife.
Stacey, from Bolton, toldThe Daily Mail: “The manager just wrote the figure on a piece of paper, slid it over to me, smirking, and said ‘pay or you’re out’.
“I said we’ve paid for this trip already and we have a sick baby, this is ridiculous.
“So now we are frightened to leave the room empty in case they come up and remove all our stuff.
“We don’t know what to do because what if we pay and can’t get it back? So now we’re prisoners in our hotel with a sick baby.”
Cath and Harvey Hurst were told to fork up £ 2, 145 or they’d be kicked out of their Menorca hotel.
The couple had paid £ 2, 300 for the two-week holiday at a Hotel Cabot Pollensa Park Spa along with 10 other Brits to celebrate their Golden Wedding Anniversary.
Cath, 71, toldThe Mirror Online: “The manager told us we had to pay £ 2, 145. I explained that we didn’t have the money and he said ‘pay it or else you will have to leave the hotel’.
“I feel like we’re being held hostage here.
Are you an affected Thomas Cook customer? E-mail The Sun Online on 0207 782 4368 or email [email protected]
“We’re going to be homeless on holiday if we can’t find another hotel to stay in. We’ll be either on the streets or in the airport. “
One family-of-eight told The Sun Online how they were locked out of their hotel in Turkey and others have been threatened with eviction from their rooms in Spain and Tunisia.
One mum stranded in Turkey claims she and her family have been held hostage at their hotel – and ordered to pay £ 1, 600 to keep their rooms.
Emma Robinson said she paid £ 5, 000 for the all-inclusive two-week break in Antlayla with her six children and mum, Jennifer , 52.
But the single mum says they’ve been left with “nowhere to sleep” for the remainder of their holiday after staff at the Eftalia Splash Resort Hotel “locked us out of our rooms”.
Emma, 33, claims the resort manager is now demanding they pay £ 800 to keep their two rooms at the five-star hotel.
The family was due to travel home to Loftus, North Yorks., On Wednesday, but are now stranded abroad after Thomas Cook went bust.
Emma told Sun Online: “We were called into reception this morning after the news broke about Thomas Cook going bankrupt. We have two rooms at the hotel – and we were told we would have to pay £ 800 for each room if we wanted to stay on there.
“I can’t afford to pay £ 1, 600 – I’m a single mum. The holiday itself cost £ 5, 000 .Now we’re locked out of our rooms. know where we’ll be sleeping for the next two nights – or when we’ll get home.
“We’re devastated. This is the children’s first holiday abroad together – and this is how it has turned out.
“I have been arguing with the hotel manager, who says he’s been left out of of pocket by Thomas Cook, but that’s not our fault.
“This was supposed to be our holiday. It’s so stressful – and now they’ve sent security guards with guns into the hotel.
“We’re still waiting in reception as we have nowhere else to go. We just want to come home now – and we don’t even know when or how that will happen.”
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