5-star hotel row ends in armed police face-off
RIOT police wielding machine guns confronted a group of British tourists after a dispute at their five-star Caribbean hotel – as they were left afraid they would not be allowed home.
The holidaymakers in Tobago – most of whom are over 60 – say they were falsely accused of ‘accosting’ the hotel manager and threatened with being thrown out after complaining about conditions.
Shortly after winning the right for the airport to be re-opened for a mercy trip home, they were told they would be reported to the British High Commissioner and banned from leaving.
They were warned they would be declared a ‘flight risk’ – a legal term for someone accused of a crime and thought likely to flee the country before trial.
The extraordinary row involved a group of 20 Britons on a ten-day holiday booked with Stoke-on-Trent travel firm Blue Bay.
They faced being stranded after the local airports were closed on Sunday to curb the spread of Covid-19, three days before they were due to jet home.
They say they were threatened with being evicted from their hotel and sworn at after protesting at being served fried eggs on top of cakes for their food – in cartons with plastic forks.
It led to a five-strong team from the island’s SWAT police unit swooping on some of the tourists in the reception of Le Grand Courlan hotel in Stonehaven on Sunday evening.
A khaki-clad police commander interrogated them as another officer in black combat uniform with a machine gun stood by. Three more SWAT police officers stood guard at the door.
A tape recording of the confrontation obtained by the Daily Mail shows how the police chief said they were accused of ‘accosting’ and ‘threatening’ the hotel manager. He warned that if there was evidence of ‘civil unrest’ he had the power to close the hotel.
The recording shows the local travel agent representative appear to threaten reprisals after the group’s spokesman, Essex businessman Barry Davison, 71, insisted they did nothing wrong.
The rep said: ‘Let me explain exactly how this is going to play out. We are not going to take any more of your nonsense. We will pack your bags and get you out [of the hotel].
‘You are going to be reported to the High Commissioner’s office. A file is going to be opened against you. You then become a flight risk and will lose that [the flight]. This is how serious this is.’
Mr Davison can be heard asking the police chief for ‘the right of reply’ before complaining that the rep had earlier told them: ‘If you don’t like it pack your bags and f*** off!’ The rep denied saying this.
The clash started when Mr Davison and his wife Lou, fellow Britons Justin Williams and Ian Cooper, and two other tourists protested they had to put up with crude meals in cardboard boxes – unlike guests at nearby hotels.
They said they were also banned from drinking alcohol, even though they had paid for it as part of the package. Mr Davison, who shelled out £2,500 for the holiday, told the Mail: ‘The police commander said we had accosted and threatened the hotel manager.
‘It was an outrageous lie and we were not going to take it lying down. The rep threatened to throw us in the streets.’
In the end they took the flight back and are expected to land at Gatwick today. Blue Bay Travel declined to comment.
‘Threatened to throw us in the streets’