Our ‘luxury’ holiday was RUINED when ‘out-of-control travellers’ TRASHED our campsite – even pooing in the showers
FAMILIES have complained their “luxury” holiday was ruined when “out-of-control travellers” trashed the campsite – and even pooed in the showers.
Irate customers left furious reviews on Tripadvisor describing the anti-social behaviour of a group of guests, believed to be travellers, at Flamingo Land in Kirby Misperton, North Yorkshire, over the two bank holidays in April and May.
The string of one and two star reviews claim visitors were greeted by “chaos” as staff reportedly were unable to control the rowdy guests, who reviewers claim were abusive to families, used “vile language”, and left the site strewn with smashed glass and dog muck.
The behaviour was so bad that one guest’s review claimed their four-year-old was left with a “black eye” for asking for his ball back while another said that families were escorted off the premises “for their own safety”.
Along with multiple reports of antisocial behaviour at the theme park, the caravan campsite was said to be “lawless” at night and “left in a disgrace”, with one livid reviewer saying “if you want a family friendly place, this is not the place to go”.
Flamingo Land customer service team responded to complaints by apologising and saying their security team had worked “tirelessly” across the site, with offenders being “removed” from the site.
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One visitor, who wished to remain anonymous, took his wife and two children to the caravan park for Easter bank holiday weekend in the hopes of a relaxing break, but quickly found that a few days of peace and quiet would not be on the cards.
The dad, whose children are aged seven months and six years old, said: "The winter's my busy time with work, so it was a bit of a long weekend off for myself and the kids, and we thought, 'Let's book somewhere, take the caravan and have a bit of time off'.
"We got to the site, took a spot out of the way and set the caravan up. Within half an hour I knew we weren't going to have a relaxing stay.
"There were kids flying around on electric scooters and booting balls around, but it was the language that you heard from them as well.
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"I said to my wife, 'Have you heard the language on some of those kids'. 'F's, 'C's, everything, and that was within the first 30 minutes."
The father-of-two from North Yorkshire said that while the daytime antics of the children made it difficult to relax, once the evening drew in things got much worse.
He said: "It was another world. I think the best way to describe it would be like Appleby Fair.
"Me and the missus are in our 30s, we're not boring people. We'll have a drink and listen to some music, but as an adult there comes a time when that has to stop, because there's other people around you. It just went on all the way through the night.
"About half one in the morning the kids were driving around, blasting the car horn and shouting 'Caravanners, wake up!'
"Then the adults were blaring music and swearing, and as they got more drunk they sounded more aggressive. It was one of those situations where you don't want to confront them because it'll make things worse.
"I know you shouldn't judge a book by its cover, but when you turn up and the first thing you see is a pickup truck saying 'We Buy Scrap', it's a strong first impression.
"Normally when we take the six-year-old away she'd make friends with Freddie Kruger, and even she didn't want to go out and play, she just wanted to stay in the caravan with us. Then it got to the point where she wasn't going out of that caravan, because I wouldn't want her to get hit by an electric scooter or a car."
While the young family tried to 'make their own entertainment' inside their caravan, eventually the situation became too much to take.
The dad-of-two said: "On the Sunday we had one day left and me and the missus looked at each other and said, 'Nah, we're going, we're not staying here another night.'
"The little girl was upset, asking why we weren't going to the park, and as parents you feel guilty, but we just told a little white lie about the weather. I think that's better than saying that you're fearing for your safety.
'I FELT UNSAFE FOR THE CHILDREN'
"I felt unsafe for the children. If it was just me and my wife then we'd just ignore it, but we didn't want the kids around it.
"I know the stereotype is that travellers leave litter, but it was true here. One family a couple of caravans down from us left about six or seven big bags of rubbish when the skip was less than a thirty second walk away.
"Then the birds ripped the bags open and the rubbish is blowing everywhere, and you think, 'Come on, you're b****y adults'.
"At some point we just had to go for a walk, so we put the baby in the pushchair and walked over towards the leisure centre, and there was just glass everywhere.
"A football narrowly missed my wife's head and the guy just laughed. It was really bad.
"If you want to get a sense of the place, book a caravan for a day there and you'll experience it. It was awful."
While he believes that the theme park itself was managed well enough, the same couldn't be said for the camping and caravan site, which he said Flamingo Land management had lost control of.
He said: "I think the security they had on wouldn't dare say anything. They were only young lads, and they'd probably have got that much grief for it that they thought, 'Is this worth getting a right hook for?'
"They did have a little security cabin there but I only saw them once or twice. If I was them I probably wouldn't want to go over and say something to them either.
'IT WAS LAWLESS'
"It was just like being on a traveller site; it was lawless. Broken glass and dog muck.
"We had that moment parents have where you look at each other and say, 'That's enough'. It's one of those things you really want to forget, and I'll just say goodbye to the £300 I paid and put it down a drain. We won't be going back."
One Tripadvisor reviewer, who had also stayed at Flamingo Land over Easter bank holiday, said that they had saved 'most of the year' for the trip to take their family of five.
The reviewer wrote: "Wow, not got anything against the travelling community, as I have friends and family with them, this was a different breed; dirty, rude and overpowering.
"My son age four was left with a black eye all because they stole his ball and we asked for it back.
"They smashed the campsite tap off, they took a poo on the shower's floor, they pushed in front of the queue for rides, the kids' language was vile and the parents didn't give a damn. The campsite was just left in a disgrace."
The Flamingo Land customer service team later responded to the negative Tripadvisor reviews and said: "I am sorry that a small number of guests had such a negative effect on your stay at Flamingo Land.
"Our security teams were working tirelessly across the resort to respond to the issues you raise, throughout the weekend, with offenders being removed from site."
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North Yorkshire Police said it had received no reports of anti-social behaviour at Flamingo Land on Easter Bank Holiday or over May bank holiday.
Flamingo Land park executive Ross Snipp said: "Our Customer Service team have responded to each of those guests addressing their concerns. We therefore have no further comments to make."
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