Caravan park guests leave after ‘sudden’ resort closure
A FAMILY have described how they were suddenly informed Porthcawl’s Trecco Bay Caravan Park would be closing as local lockdowns came into force.
Sean Gattrell will now be split from his partner and baby as he heads to Newport, which is under lockdown restrictions, while his partner and baby head to Cardiff, which is not.
The owners of Trecco Bay caravan park Europe’s largest holiday park - said yesterday afternoon that the site will go into “hibernation”.
Trecco Bay falls within the Bridgend council area, forcing bosses to close the park with immediate effect. New lockdown rules mean people can only enter or leave the areas with a reasonable excuse.
Sean, 25, from Newport, arrived on Friday with his partner Chloe Brant, 21, and baby Layla Gattrell, 14 months, together with other family members. He said his family were meant to stay until this coming Friday, but were suddenly asked to leave.
Sean said yesterday: “We overheard one of the Parkdean members say that at 6pm they were leaving. Customers were told they had to leave by 6pm. They just basically said with the restrictions coming in they had to close - the whole park had to close.
“We have had threeand-a-half to four hours to pack everything and get the baby ready to get off the site.”
Sean said the family have been told they will be fully refunded for the booking, but he now faces further heartbreak as he lives in a different area to his partner. Independent councillor for the Porthcawl East Central ward, Brian Jones, said he wanted to thank Parkdean Resorts for closing the site.
“I’m thankful the management of Parkdean have considered the guidelines from the Welsh Government and have decided to close Trecco,” he said.
“This could have had a dramatic effect on the rise in this area.”since the park reopened on July 13, the company said more than 50,000 have visited the site. Parkdean Resorts said all guests had been asked to leave “as soon as possible” yesterday.