Pontins used secret list of ‘undesirable’ Irish surnames to ban traveller families

PONTINS used a blacklist of common Irish surnames to keep gipsies and travellers out of its resorts, it was revealed yesterday.

Bosses circulated a list titled ‘undesirable guests’ to staff, asking them to ‘watch out’ for the 40 names and refuse them bookings. Names included Boyle, Gallagher, Murphy and O’Donnell.

But the practice was reported by an employee at a Pontins call centre to the Equality and Human Rights Commission – which started a probe. The watchdog yesterday concluded the holiday park was ‘directly discriminating on the basis of race’ and breached the 2010 Equality Act.

It also found a ban on commercial vehicles such as vans and caravans was another tactic used to prevent gipsy and traveller families from staying at its venues.

Alastair Pringle, EHRC executive director, said: ‘It is hard not to draw comparisons with an “undesirable guests” list and the signs displayed in hotel windows fifty years ago explicitly barring Irish people and black people.

‘Banning people from services based on their race is discrimination and is unlawful.’

The whistleblower said: ‘ You were told from day one that you had to listen out for an Irish accent and find out as much as possible about... their address and whereabouts. If it was an Irish accent and the postcode was for a caravan site or an industrial estate that was a big red flashing light.’ Pontins owner Britannia Jinky Jersey Limited has now signed a legal agreement to prevent race discrimination.

No10 condemned exclusionary practices saying that ‘no one in the UK should be discriminated against because of their race or ethnicity’.