Six holidaymakers out of a family of 10 who stayed at a trailer park in Devon have tested positive for Covid – and they blame poor hygiene.
They say one of the trailers was dirty when they arrived – and part of the mess included a coronavirus test kit thrown away by previous guests.
Now they are terrified of having transmitted the virus to their elderly father who was too ill to travel with them to Devon because he has severe lung problems.
But he also feels bad and the family are awaiting the result of his Covid test, Devon Live reports.
The holidays were planned as a nostalgic reunion to celebrate the end of the foreclosure at Devon Cliffs at Sandy Park in Exmouth – which they used to visit as children.
Devon Cliffs owners Haven Holidays said they have strict cleaning protocols in place and said the family did not complain when they arrived.
Haven says no member of the team has Covid “at the time of the family break” and the person who cleaned their trailers showed no symptoms: “Although we take all complaints seriously , we also maintain our cleanliness to the highest standards and would, if we had warned on arrival, re-cleaned the family trailer in accordance with our Caravan Cleanliness Guarantee. “
The family – several of whom work for the NHS – had traveled to Devon from Portsmouth and Derby as they have fond childhood memories of Devon Cliffs. But now they say, “We wish we had never been gone.”
The family say they complained through the check-in app that one of their trailers was dirty – they cleaned up most of the dirt themselves and the owners of Haven Holidays park came and took some cushions that appeared to have blood stains the next day.
One of the family said: “The cutlery and dishes were all dirty. There is no dishwasher in these vans so we had to clean everything again. The cushions and the walls were dirty with what looked like bloodstains.
“When we first arrived mine looked good at first glance, but my sister told them she was not satisfied and asked to speak to someone – no one came and so she went to the front desk the next day to complain. “
They also found packaging which they later realized came from a Covid test kit discarded by previous occupants.
One of those who tested positive is a senior NHS nurse who has been caring for people with Covid for 18 months: “It’s been a horrible time – I haven’t seen my parents in all this time because I wanted to We didn’t see them on Christmas – and now we’ve put them at risk and contracted Covid due to poor hygiene.
“It’s not good enough. I don’t work – my daughter works for the NHS and she doesn’t work. My youngest daughter is a student with a part-time job. She is off work and will not be working. paid – the domino effect of this is huge. “
She drove from Derby with her two grown children and picked up her mother. They met two of her sisters and four nieces.
The NHS worker said: “I feel exhausted. I have asthma and I’m trying to stop it from spreading to my chest.
“Dad had part of his lung removed. What worries us is that before we knew we had Covid, some of us kissed dad when we got home. When we left the holiday park – one of my sisters thought she had hay fever on Fridays because they were mowing the grass.
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“It wasn’t until we got home that we were tested and found that six out of 10 of us tested positive.”
The family raised the issue with the Devon County Council Environmental Health Department and Haven Holidays CEO Jane Bentall.
A spokesperson for Haven said: “Since the onset of the pandemic, Haven has taken a number of steps to ensure that the safety and security of its guests, owners and team remains its number one priority. We have very strict protocols in place with regards to Covid 19 regarding the cleanliness of our holiday homes and ask customers to contact our teams upon arrival if they find that their accommodation has not been cleaned. according to our high standards.
“In the case of this family, after check-in they updated our arrival app confirming that they had reached their vacation home and when asked to rate the cleanliness of the caravan and they needed a reminder, they didn’t raise any issues.
“The next morning they contacted our team regarding the cleanliness of the scatter pads which was discussed at the time, one of them having been removed from the trailer because a stain could not be removed. was done by a senior member of the team and the family were happy with the response to the cleanup. Later that day the family asked if the scatter pad could be returned which was duly done. No further concern was raised during the stay. “
The family disputes this and say they checked “not satisfied” on the check-in app and asked a staff member to contact her.
The Haven spokesperson said: “Since reopening, Haven has made huge investments in cleanup crews, including increasing the number of dedicated park crews focused on the park’s public spaces as well as extending the cleaning time allocated to each individual vacation home and the use of specialized cleaning materials known to kill viruses such as the coronavirus and would disprove any claims about it.
“Once a vacation home has been cleaned paying special attention to very sensitive areas such as work surfaces, handles and TV remotes, it is checked by a member of the specialist team and then a Special seal is placed on the door to show that it meets Haven’s new standard. .
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“At the time of the family break, we had no members of the team showing symptoms of Covid nor any self-isolating team. In addition, the cleaner who cleaned the trailer also had no symptom of Covid before or after the break We are also not aware of anyone who stayed in the caravan before the family stay who contracted Covid19.
“Over the past year, we have worked closely with the local primary authority who have reviewed our standard operating procedures and Covid risk assessments and have always been satisfied with our procedures and documents. While we take all complaints seriously, we also take care of cleanliness. to the highest standards and, if we had been informed on arrival, would clean the family caravan again in accordance with our guarantee of cleanliness of the caravan.
“We know the family has contacted environmental health workers and we have provided them with all the details regarding the family’s claims.”
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Source: www.somersetlive.co.uk
This notice was published: 2021-06-09 19:54:15
