Kids left sobbing as holiday club fails to pay bus drivers for day out at safari park
Police arrest a woman after upset families complain
Devastated families hoping to visit a safari park were left stranded yesterday after their day trip organiser failed to pay bus drivers.
Hamilton Holiday Club was blamed for the nightmare which saw 140 people, mostly parents with young children, board two coaches only to be told they’d be going nowhere.
Drivers had expected to receive payment when they arrived to collect the group, who were hoping to visit Blair Drummond Safari Park near Stirling a day after schools broke up for the summer holidays.
But parents ended up comforting crying children when the Golden Eagle Coaches firm told them they had not been paid, even though Hamilton Holiday Club’s customers had stumped up for the day out.
The drama unfolded at Hamilton’s Beckford Street car park at 9.30am.
Furious customers called police to lodge a complaint and ended up being warned about approaching Laura Watson, who runs the holiday club.
Hamilton Holiday C lub cha rged customers £10 per adult and £ 6 per child for a seat on the buses.
Liz Keenan, 59, who has 18 grandchildren, had planned to go on yesterday’s trip.
But she said: “The kids have been let down. Some of them sat in the car park crying after they were taken off the bus to come home.
“There were 19 of us going today but there were families of seven and other large groups.
“To think that something like this could happen to children is horrible. It’s the start of their summer holidays and they’ve been hit with this. It’s such a shame.”
Liz’s daughter, mum- of-four Tracey, 40, added: “Telling the children that they weren’t getting their trip was awful. We spent money on packed lunches and everyone was really looking forward to seeing the animals.”
Hamilton Holiday Club had also taken cash for excursions to East Links Farm Park in East Lothian, Deep Sea World in Fife and Edinburgh Zoo this week.
A day trip to Blackpool was pencilled in for August and most families had paid in full.
Tracey added :“The organiser wanted the money yesterday for every single trip.
“Some families have paid for all the trips next week and the Blackpool trip.
“My daughter has autism and she didn’t understand why were not going today.”
Adele Docherty, 41, said: “You should have seen the kids’ faces when we had to break the news we weren’t going to the safari park.”
A message which seemed to be sent to customers from Hamilton Holiday Club’s Facebook page offered to pay back cash families had lost.
No one at the firm could be contacted yesterday.
Golden Eagle Coaches said: “We’re looking into the incident and although it’s not our responsibility, we’re apologetic towards the families.”
Police said a 26-year-old woman had been arrested in connection with an alleged fraud and inquiries were ongoing.