Welcome to horrific, dangerous Pontins
AHORRIFIED mum has spoken out about her ‘dangerous and horrific’ holiday at Pontins in Southport which left the whole family feeling ill.
Asme Belghazi and her partner Stephen Macrow checked into the venue in Ainsdale with three of their children, Maria, Theo and Bethany, for a four-night stay on August 5.
But upon arriving at the centre, next to Ainsdale Beach, Asme and her family said they were “gobsmacked” to find “filthy bed sheets”, “black mould” and “a wasps’ nest” in their rooms.
What should have been a relaxing family holiday after “a difficult year” and an early birthday celebration for their seven-year-old daughter, turned into a trip which, Stephen says, was “like being in a prisoner of war film.”
And the holiday soon went from bad to worse, when the family were woken up at 2am to guests “shouting, fighting and swearing” and “toddlers running around in their nappies.”
Asme said her daughter was “petrified” by the ordeal, with “riot vans” parked on site on a number of occasions throughout their short stay.
Asme, 35, told the Visiter: “It was just horrific from start to finish. We got told we could check in from 4pm but we were waiting until 6.30pm to talk to someone.
“When we finally got to our room and opened the door we were gobsmacked.
“I turned to my partner and there was holes in the door behind us. The beds were broken and the windows were that filthy it stunk.”
She said: “We decided we needed to get the kids something to eat so we went to the restaurant.
“The tables in there were filthy. It took half an hour to get someone to clean them and when the woman came over she emptied most of the
food on the tables into my bag because there was that much of them.
“The food was gross. We ended up getting chips which were half frozen in the middle.”
Asme said: “Everything the next day on the park was closed and half of the things listed on the website didn’t exist.
“The only thing that was open was the play park so we took the kids there to have a run around.
“But it was full of people drinking and fighting. There were rusty nails sticking out of the fence and the floor was full of vomit.
“And there were people just urinating on the park right in front of us.”
She said: “We decided to try going to the swimming pool. When we got in the water it was that filthy and there was stuff floating around in it I had to get the kids out straight away.
“I took them straight to the showers but they were just as filthy. They were that full of slime and mould I refused to let them go in there.”
The family told staff on the Tuesday that they were going to leave for home, but after being assured they would be moved to a new room the next day they decided to stay put.
Asme said: “When we finally got moved to the second apartment it was that dirty I had to go and get cleaning products and clean it myself.
“The mattresses were ripped and the duvet was stained with what could have been blood. We ended up sleeping in just a sheet.”
Asme said: “Once we got unpacked we heard this buzzing noise coming from the kids room.
“We went in and there was this hole in the ceiling and you could see wasps coming in. It turned out there was a wasps nest in the room and they were burrowing in from outside.”
Heading down to the complaints desk at 9am to report the’ nest, Asme said, she was soon told by staff to “close the window” and a member of staff came to look five hours later.
The mum of five said: “All of us ended up with upset stomachs by Wednesday lunch time and my son ended up vomiting through the night.
“He’s only five and he never gets sick but he was vomiting right through to Saturday. It must have been the food in the restaurant and maybe the pool with how filthy it was.”
Asme said: “One night my daughter woke me up at two in the morning saying she was petrified.
“When we looked out the window there was people shouting and fighting and swearing. And toddlers were running around in their nappies.”
Complaining to staff “three times a day” about the state of the facilities, there was a long line of guests waiting in the queue each time, she said.
And while Stephen said he “did not blame the staff” for the state of the site, their reactions to the family’s complaints included: “I agree mate it’s a sh*t hole”, “this is the worst park in the whole of the UK” and “don’t ever come back here, it’s so bad.”
Stephen, 51, said: “It was like being on a prisoner of war film. We just used it as somewhere to sleep in the end.
“We took the children out every day in Southport to the beach and the cinema from 9.30am until 10pm everyday.
“We’d come back to shower at 5pm and then go back out again for the evening, we didn’t want it to ruin their holiday.”
Asme said: “There were police, ambulance and riot vans on site several times while we were there, it was just horrific.”
“We have had a really difficult year, one of our children has had pneumonia and we’ve had a couple of deaths in the family.
“So we saved up some money and found the site online. It is our only holiday this year and a chance for all five of us to go away together.
“It was also supposed to be an early birthday celebration for my sevenyear-old daughter but it was just horrific from start to finish.”
The family were moved to three different apartments by the company throughout their stay at the park, all of which she said were “filthy.”
The accommodation cost a total of £179 for the five of them, excluding gas and electricity and the cost of food and activities on site.
The Visiter has approached Pontins for comment.