Family claims holiday park caravan had ‘stained bedsheets and bugs in room’

An influencer has said his family was forced to flee a holiday park because of bed stains and bugs in their room.

It got so bad that Richard and Lindsay Brown and their four daughters only stayed one night at Cowden Holiday Park, East Yorkshire, when they were meant to stay for three nights.

They got a reduced fee of £195 but were put off because the caravan was in a pub car park and a ’20-minute walk down 50mph roads’ to get to the beach.

Richard, 35, posted a scathing review of the place on TikTok but was soon targeted by friends of the holiday park who told him to be a ‘f**king man’ instead of a ‘schoolboy’ and remove the ‘sad little video’.

Richard said there were bits of wood on the steps, a hole in the ground and brown stains on the bed.

People even started ‘mass reporting’ his video for ‘child nudity’ over an image of his own daughter’s playground injury and sending abusive messages to him.

Richard, from Newcastle upon Tyne, said: ‘It was the worst holiday park I’ve ever stayed in. It was the holiday park from hell.

‘It was our first ever family holiday with our baby and it was spoiled by the experience. When you’ve got a newborn baby you’re just hoping everything’s clean and safe for them.

‘There were pictures [online] of families playing on the beach so I assumed there was a beach nearby.

‘My daughter [11-year-old Isabelle Brown] scraped her back on [the playground] really bad. There were sharp little clips on it as she was crawling through the tunnel.

‘Not all holiday parks are great. Our expectations were low. We just want somewhere clean and got enough beds for everyone to sleep in. That’s what we’ll be happy with.’

Richard also talked about how people were reporting his video each time he tried to post it.

He said: ‘I think they were report-bombing us where their friends report the video because on TikTok it was taken down first. They were banned on several platforms.

‘They tried everything to take down the videos. My videos were getting banned left right and centre on TikTok.

‘Because I refused to take it down they thought they’d take it into their own hands and report all my videos.

‘I don’t know how it’s still on Instagram. I was a bit gutted about it because I make money from the platform as well. It was just ridiculous.’

Richard also says a member of holiday park staff tried to entice him into removing the video by refusing to issue him a full refund at first.

But the holiday park eventually gave the family a refund following a second phone call.

A Cowden Holiday Park spokesperson said: ‘The location is clearly stated on the website at the point of booking the holiday, along with the rest of the rental units.

‘Our bedding goes through rigorous checks with initially our laundry company who spot check for stains and secondly checked by our housekeeping company. The stains were not reported during either of these checks.

‘When the party checked out early, they were asked if everything was okay during their stay. We were told it was fine and no points were raised.

‘The description on the website states that the beach is a short walk from the park. This was fully explained to the customer at the point of check in; access to the beach takes approximately a minute’s drive in the car.

‘The children’s playground is subject to checks from an external company who provides a health and safety report – API and ROSPA accredited.

‘We asked for the video to be removed from social media as we felt it was not a true reflection of customer’s experiences of our holiday park and we provided a full refund regardless.

‘Mr Brown continued to post viral videos and recorded staff without their knowing or consent.

‘We believe that this guest has grossly misrepresented the circumstances of their stay at the park, [his mother] received a full refund on 26/07/2024 and we understood that was the end of the matter.

‘The majority of our customers enjoy their experience of staying with us, leading to repeat custom and our many 5* reviews support this.’

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