HI-DE-HORROR!
Mum’s anger as family told to stay in apartment or leave Butlins campsite after her baby falls ill
AMUM claims her family were ordered to stay in their apartment or leave their Butlins campsite completely after her one-year-old daughter fell ill.
Sophie Thomas, 20, from Llanelli, had been on a pre-Christmas break to Butlins Minehead with her family when her daughter was suddenly taken ill.
After asking for more sheets due to the fact the baby had been sick, the family claim they were told by management that they would either have to leave the site or stay in their apartment so other guests were not exposed to any risk of contamination.
After seeing a doctor, the family were told that the sickness could have been caused by a urine infection and not a sickness bug.
Despite not being contagious, the family claim their apartment was still watched by security to stop them leaving their room.
Mum Sophie said: “She was sick in her travel cot early on Thursday morning, so we brought her into bed with us where she was then sick again.
“When the cleaners asked if there was anything they could do for us, we asked for some new sheets as we explained she’d been sick.
“They then must’ve reported it to management because they then came over and said that because there has been sickness we’d have to be quarantined in the apartment.
“They said that we’d either have to leave the resort straight away or stay in our apartment with security watching us so we couldn’t leave.”
The four-day trip away was to celebrate her niece’s first birthday and a Christmas get-togerther.
Sophie added: “We managed to get her to a doctor who told us it was likely that she’d got a urine infection and that’s what had made her sick.
“Even then, they wouldn’t believe us and told us we had to leave that night.
“It was really stressful. We had our 79-year-old Nan with us as well as the baby and we had to pack all of our stuff up in an hour. By that point we were fine with leaving as we felt really intimidated with the security – we really felt like we’d been targeted.”
Sophie said they had been offered a refund of around £80 for the night they missed out on, but that they were more upset by the way they had been treated.
“That wasn’t the point really, it wasn’t a nice experience at all,” she said.
“It’s really put me off – I’d never go there again. It’s put my partner’s family off, too, and they’ve been a few times.”
Shannon Thomas, who booked the trip, said: “It just made us feel like criminals really, especially only given one hour to leave the site with a baby and a disabled grandmother.
“Whilst at the resort, there were adults smoking cannabis everywhere and staff did nothing.
“People were doing things illegally and didn’t get asked to leave, yet my niece was sick from a urine infection and we got sent off camp.
“We got treated like criminals and were told to leave for something my niece didn’t have.”
A Butlins spokesman said: “We were informed the child vomited on 10 separate occasions and, in line with our company health policy, we asked that the family remain isolated or left the site.
“They were offered a refund. Our concern has always got to be for the health of other guests, as airborne infections are increasingly prevalent nowadays.
“As to the other allegations, we reject them out of hand. It is unthinkable we would allow such behaviour concerning drug use.”