Holiday Emergency
Post categories: holidays
| 18:22 UK time, Monday, 19 March 2012
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听A family鈥檚 winter break at a holiday camp in Somerset turned into a nightmare after fire broke out in a neighbouring chalet.
Yvonne and Paul Davies, from Gilfach Goch, said they lost thousands of pounds worth of their belongings in the fire at Pontins in Brean Sands.
Paul said, 鈥淲e'd gone to bed early because we were going to be travelling home the next day. We were woken by fire.
鈥淚 could hear screaming from kids next door 鈥楪et out there's a fire鈥. I was in a state of shock really. The flames were 10-15 foot above chalet.鈥
Six fire teams rushed to the fire but the chalets were razed to the ground. Their 86-year-old grandfather Raymond, staying in one of the chalets, was treated for smoke inhalation and four others were taken to hospital.
鈥淚 still think about it constantly, the smell, can still smell that smell, if we hadn't have got out then, we wouldn't have got out of there.听 I could have lost my whole family - my husband's family was there. It could have been a whole generation of people gone,鈥 says Yvonne.
In all, Yvonne had booked three chalets at Pontins for all of the families.
Husband Paul and baby Mason, sister-in-law Angela, fiancee Kevin and their sons,听 parents in law Vicky and Brian and the head of the family, Raymond, were all at the site.
Christmas presents, smart clothes as well as sentimental items, including an eternity ring given to Yvonne by her grandmother, were lost in the fire.
However, when she contacted the company they told her the fire wasn鈥檛 their fault and so they weren鈥檛 liable for anything lost.
X-Ray asked travel lawyer Mark Harvey whether there was anything, Yvonne and her family could do to get the value of their goods back from Pontins.
He said: 鈥淚n order to make a successful claim the Davies鈥 would have to prove that the fire was the fault of Pontins. But when something happens that is beyond the control of a company, for instance if one of the other guests did something that causes a problem, then Pontins are unlikely to be held responsible for that, even though you might say morally they should do so.鈥
X-Ray has been in touch with Pontins and they say they hadn鈥檛 received the letter that Yvonne sent them.听 They now say they will consider making a goodwill gesture to the Davies family.
