Sun lounger vigilantes RUINED my holiday, says disabled Brit OAP after fuming tourists were filmed snatching pool towels
Wheelchair user Elaine Simpson, 77, from Manchester, was staying at the Aquasol Aparthotel near Magaluf with her family to mark her 51st wedding anniversary.
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But her plans to enjoy the special day by the poolside were ruined after a group of friends nabbed the towels they had used to save their spaces at the permission of hotel staff.
Elaine was joined for the trip by her husband and teenage grandkids for a week's break in the sun.
But when they arrived, she was put into a hotel room that was five floors up and as far from the pool as they could have been.
Because she suffers from chronic arthritis and is in a wheelchair, this made it a challenge to claim a hotel sun bed at opening time.
She told the Sun: "We could never have made it down for 9am to get a sunbed.
"So we went out to the beach and paid for sunbeds for the whole week."
Her anniversary came towards the end of their trip - and she wanted to have one day of being able to enjoy the poolside at the hotel.
So she asked reception if they could make an exception to hotel rules and let her reserve a sun bed for that day.
"I went to the man on reception and explained the situation," she said.
"And he said 'you have my approval to reserve some sunbeds around the pool'."
Her teenage grandsons dutifully laid out fresh towels on the sun beds that night so they could save spots for the whole family.
But when they arrived in the morning, the towels had been taken and they were once again left without a space - spoiling the relaxing poolside day they had planned.
"The only thing that was available apart from that was white plastic chairs, she added. "They were too hard. And I can't lie down on the grass, I've got chronic arthritis."
To start with, they were told it had likely been a lifeguard who removed the towels in error.
But it later transpired that a group of friends, who were unaware an exception was made for the family, had taken the towels.
They had shared a video on TikTok of the lads putting down the towels - who the friends had assumed were tourists attempting to get ahead of the morning rush.
The TikTok shows them sneaking down in the dead of night to swipe the towels in what was painted as an act of justice against queue jumpers.
Comments on the video lambasted the family for what was perceived as an inconsiderate act of breaking the hotel rules.
Elaine told the Sun: "It was vile. My grandsons are 13 and 15, they had no right to post any pictures of them.
"They were just trying to look out for me.
"They've not right to do that without checking the facts.
"What somebody saw, and the truth, are completely different."
Elaine said her daughter has since made contact with the TikToker who posted the original video, who apologised profusely for the confusion and took the clip down.
But she added that the experience hasn't entirely soured their trip.
They plan to go back to the same hotel next August, and hope to arrange a more wheelchair friendly room with staff.
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Telegraph
44 minutes ago
- Telegraph
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Times
an hour ago
- Times
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Expensive, perhaps, but what price the opportunity to live out the Mamma Mia! fantasy of a simple, stylish life for a fortnight?Details Two nights' B&B from £728 ( Fly to Split This is the year to visit Hvar, Croatia's glitziest island. Negative headlines from a modest beach club scene led authorities to introduce noise restrictions in March (85 decibels, in case you're wondering) and there's a no-nonsense approach to misbehaviour. The goal is to return Hvar Town to being a buzzy small harbour with Venetian Renaissance architecture. Good luck to them, but if you're choosing to visit you'll probably seek some nightlife, so it makes sense to stay somewhere modern, stylish and beside the water. This fits the bill. Boats bob outside, Carpe Diem cocktail bar is opposite and Hula Hula beach club is just around the bay. Details B&B doubles from £253 ( Fly to Split The Elafiti island Lopud has shifted from backwater to Dubrovnik day trip in the 20 years I've been going. Obvious, really — the harbour's pretty, Sunj beach has sand. Anyway, that's where Sipan island comes in. The castaway cool of Bowa beach club aside, the next island on is the anti-Lopud: three miles of nicely scruffy harbours, vineyards and Renaissance chapels. Most people get around on foot. If you're after nothing more than books, strolls, swims and quiet nights, you'll fit right in. The Kristic family's hotel is spotless, friendly, has a small pool and is bang on the sea. They'll transfer you from the airport by B&B doubles from £120 ( Fly to Dubrovnik Second cities such as Sibenik make for more rewarding breaks. They're generally quieter, have fewer tourists and are better value. This hotel, which opened in 2021, proves the point. It compacts all that is good about this small overlooked city in Dalmatia — an old town with a splendid cathedral, good restaurants, sea views — into a small hotel installed in a 17th-century monastery. Open the shutters and you'll see either old stone the colour of ivory or sea and islands that beg for day trips by ferry. Wallow in a rooftop hot tub and you'll see the cathedral spire above roofs. Now check out the price. Beat that, B&B doubles from £117 ( Fly to Split Trogir's fate is to be near Split airport and too often bypassed. Yet Unesco describes it as one of Europe's finest small towns: Romanesque churches, palaces from centuries under Venetian rule. So it is. What it doesn't say is that it has a pretty harbour that seems purpose-designed for pottering around. Stay at this pleasure palace for discerning aesthetes, sophisticated in its Scandi metropolitan style (geometric print throws, rugs skimming parquet floors) while being relaxed. There's the requisite spa plus two pools. The 'beach' of the name is scruffy shingle, but there are sandier stretches on neighbouring Ciovo island, linked by bridge. Parents rejoice: there's a babysitter B&B doubles from £175 ( Fly to Split For romance — historic lodgings, morning coffee before day-trippers arrive, siestas after lunch, strolls to bed after dinner — only the old town will do. This intimate house fits the bill nicely. On a narrow side street, it has 16th-century stone and beams in suites — smaller Standard and Attic rooms are in an adjacent cottage — but cons are mod. Decor is understated, with white walls and buff fabrics upholstering antique furniture. While rooms in the house have modest kitchenettes (those in the cottage share a kitchen) breakfasts are served in-room. Luggage transport into the old town is a nice B&B doubles £368 ( Fly to Dubrovnik Throughout August, Zrce beach on Pag island is Croatia's answer to Ibiza. Go in September or early October and the island reverts to its older self: bare pink-white mountains as austere and magical as a desert, still inlets and modest holiday resorts like Novalja. You're a couple of miles outside Novalja at this rural wine hotel. I first visited when it opened in 2003 and it remains criminally under-valued; one of those little black book finds. Here 11 rooms and suites make a virtue of simplicity, Michelin-starred chef Matija Breges does creative things with island dishes and staff are B&B double from £182 ( Fly to Zadar The 'Rocco' was one of Istria's first smart wine hotels when it opened in the northern wine hills in 2004. It has been eclipsed by more luxurious stays since, but you'll get a week at this 13-room place, with flights, for the price of three nights elsewhere. You're hardly roughing it either. Expect beams and stone walls, a pool and modest spa, free bikes, estate olive oils and wines in the restaurant. Better, it's not isolated like some rural stays, sitting at the edge of Brtonigla, a town yet to be overtaken by tourism. If you want that, it's ten miles away on the coast and in hill-town Motovun. Details Seven nights' B&B, including flights and transfers, from £1,533 ( Do you have a favourite hotel in Croatia? Share it in the comments
Times
2 hours ago
- Times
Scott Mills: ‘I can't even put up an ironing board'
Home is a place where I can be silent. People think that if you are in radio, particularly music-based radio, that you'll want to hear music all the time. I actually don't want to hear anything. After getting up at 4am then speaking to guests for three hours of high-adrenaline interaction live on air, I'm tired. My husband, Sam, often comes home and says, 'Why are you just sat in silence without the TV or radio on?' I love it, but it's draining. Where is home for you now? I lived in various places in London, all the way up to Covid. After that I moved to Hertfordshire. We now live in a new-build house in a quiet little cul-de-sac in the Rickmansworth area. What's the vibe? We're both quite tidy, so it's very modern and pared-back. I don't like clutter. We're aiming for that Scandinavian minimalist vibe. Hygge is the goal, so there are candles galore. I like Diptyque's Baies scent. When people say, 'This is the best-smelling house I've ever been in,' it brings me absolute joy. I came back home recently after a week in Switzerland for Eurovision and it still smelt banging. How different is your home today from the one you grew up in? I grew up in a semi-detached house on a nondescript housing estate in Eastleigh, Hampshire. Lovely, but nothing to write home about. When my mum visits from Southampton she loves the busy feel of the house, but I sense she thinks it's too modern. She wants me to have a pine dresser. Everything in my mum's house was, is and always has been pine. My dad owned a removal company and virtually lived in his van. This was before mobile phones, so it must have been quite isolating and not great for his mental health. But it's actually the complete opposite for me. My work life is so full-on that the prospect of escaping for a few hours in a van where no one can contact me is quite appealing. I remember being about ten and him saying, 'Maybe you could take over the family business,' and me thinking, absolutely not, I'm going to pursue my dream of being on the radio. What has owning your own home taught you about yourself? I'm not flash or extravagant. I know people — who shall remain nameless — who have grand pianos, but that's not me. I'm happy being low-key, although I have graduated from buying the cheapest black ash furniture from Argos to stuff that actually lasts. I can now see the point of buying Le Creuset pans with handles that don't fall off after two days. All I have on my walls are family photos, photos of our wedding and photos of us with our cavapoo, Teddy. 'I now see the point of buying Le Creuset pans,' Mills says ALAMY Any art? I don't understand art and I don't partake in it. I don't get it. A friend bought me some art for my birthday recently and it's in the garage. What can I say? I'm just basic. Do you host many celebrity dinner parties? No. I was much more sociable before the pandemic. I used to have massive Halloween parties at the Finsbury Park house I lived in before. One year Susanna Reid was there — not in fancy dress — Rob Rinder, Ollie Locke from Made in Chelsea came dressed as Superman, Emily Atack, Caroline Flack, then all the X Factor lot turned up with my friend Nick Grimshaw. I remember walking into the upstairs cinema room at about 2am and Rita Ora was doing karaoke to one of her own songs. The internet was buffering, so she'd be halfway through one of her big hits and Grimmy would be standing there shouting, 'What's the wi-fi password?' It was absolute chaos. It's more likely to be Alan and Sarah from next door now, or some of my BBC colleagues like Vernon Kay and Jeremy Vine might still make it to the table. Does your suburban life include copious DIY projects? God no. That's Sam's territory. I have no logic. I can't even put up an ironing board. And don't get me started on deckchairs. Mills during his early days at Radio 1 GILL FLETT/BBC How highbrow are you culturally? My absolute chillout watch right now is Bargain-Loving Brits in the Sun. Check it out. I'm obsessed. There are books in the house, too, but they're Sam's as he's a bookworm. There are piles of them everywhere, which is actually disturbing my minimalist vibe. He tries to make me read but it's not going to happen. There's nothing there. Are you the most famous person in the area? Absolutely not. I was in the local dry cleaner recently and I spotted a bag of clothes with a very exciting label on: 'The Kemps, Martin and Shirlie'. After some Instagram investigation of their home renovations, I've worked out exactly how close to me they live. Without giving too much away, they have gates and a tennis court. If I was to accrue the riches of a 1980s pop star, who knows, maybe we could be even closer neighbours.
