The Camping and Caravan Club have destroyed the holiday plans of thousands of staycation holidaymakers by closing
The Camping and Caravan Club have destroyed the holiday plans of thousands of staycation holidaymakers by closing nearly a dozen caravan sites right at the beginning of the holiday season in the UK.
They have decided to close several sites today Friday the 23rd of July 21, apparently due to staff shortages.
This move by the club has left many thousands of holiday plans in ruins. They also gave seasonal pitch members no more than a few days’ notice to move off-site and find alternative pitches.
With Caravan site availability already full across the UK, this could not have come at a worse time as its right at the start of the UK Summer Holidays.
Said one furious caravanner “Most other sites are already booked up and the Caravan and Camping club have left us stranded, so much for them being the friendly club. We think this treatment of its members is UTTERLY DISGUSTING.”
A quick check of the C&CC website shows their news section does not even mention the closures!
This is not the first time the Camping and Caravan Club has come in for criticism, a couple of years ago the so-called ‘friendly club’ threw a member of a site in Portrush for draining his grey waste into a waste drain.
Grey waste is sink and shower water. When contacted about this practice, Northern Ireland Water said this was exactly the correct place to dispose of grey wastewater. Despite being told this the Camping and Caravan Club continued and the camper was thrown off the site with threats of police intervention if he did not leave.
A statement from the C&CC states in relation to the closures said :
The Camping and Caravanning Club’s Director-General, Sabina Voysey, said: “It is with deep regret that we have had to temporarily close a small number of our campsites on our Club Site network. Just like many other hospitality and tourist providers, we too are experiencing staff shortages at a time when demand for camping holidays is exceptionally high.
“We are committed to providing the best possible experience for our campers, and even as restrictions start to lift, our teams will still be working with additional measures and enhanced cleaning in place. This, coupled with the exceptional demand, means that across our network we simply don’t have enough staff, and it’s important that we only open where we can operate safely and ensure we can deliver our usual high standards.
“It’s a very small number (less than 1% of bookings) that we’re having to cancel but having to cancel one stay at a Club Site is one too many. We know this will have an impact on those who have booked trips with us on the affected campsites, for which we are truly sorry. We have done all we can to avoid this situation.
“We are always striving to achieve the best possible customer service and so we have created a dedicated team of staff at our head office to help campers who have been affected. Everyone has automatically received a full refund and we’re working hard to rebook the camping trips of those affected as well as providing a significant discount on their rebooked stays by way of an apology.”
The affected sites are Bala, Clent Hills, Hertford, Kelvedon Hatch, Lauder, Sheriff Hutton, Slindon, Speyside, and Theobalds Park. They will temporarily close on Friday, July 23 and we are actively looking to recruit and train more campsite staff to enable us to reopen them.
I have been advised that some caravanners are considering legal action as their contract is for a 12month period.
Hardly a friendly club maybe some of the managers get out of their ivory towers and man the sites themselves.