'Our dream £800 caravan trip became rat and sewage-filled holiday from hell'
A family have spoken of their horror after a £800 getaway trip to a holiday park ended in them being surrounded with rats and sewage.
Andrew Pollard and wife Julie brought their two children, Charlotte, 15, and George, 14, to the Cayton Bay caravan park in Scarborough, North Yorkshire, only to be met with flooding hell. Despite having visited the coastal beauty spot before, the family's holiday swiftly spiralled into a nightmare when the park was struck by flash flooding.
The weather disaster resulted in the family caravan becoming stranded leaving them unable to flush the toilet. Instead of enjoying the beautiful Yorkshire scenery, the family instead watched in horror as raw sewage floated past their digs.
Now the Pollards, from Rotherham, South Yorkshire, have hit out at Cayton Bay as they criticised their handling of the chaos. Despite park bosses saying staff worked through the night to help trapped guests, Mr Pollard said their reaction was not quick enough.
Cayton Bay caravan park in Scarborough, North Yorkshire"We've been to Cayton Bay Park Dean resort since our children were really young and up until now had fond memories of the place," Mr Pollard told Yorkshire Live. "The site suffered flooding in 2017, but on that occasion the staff acted really quickly and were really helpful.
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"This time however, there was nowhere near the same reaction, it was such a contrast to the previous time. I'm totally aware that the weather can't be controlled but how management reacts and deal with a problem certainly can.
"To my mind families wading through sewage water even once is one time too many. There was a manhole cover floating about.
"On Thursday evening it was awful. The volume of rain that came down was unbelievable. We were literally stranded in the caravan we had rented. There was a lack of communication from the people who run it and worst of all it looked to me like raw sewage in the water. I've contacted Trading Standards regarding the sewage water."
Lottie Pollard was forced to gingerly pick her way through the flooded caravan site (Pollard family album)Julie added: "We had no food in the caravan so we had no choice but to go and get some pizzas. We couldn't flush our loo either.
"The worst part was not knowing what was in the water, what hazards there were. When we had the last flood there were electric carts and pumps but nothing like that this time."
Thankfully no caravans were reported to have been flooded in the downpour, though one caravan temporarily lost power. Some manholes opened due to the amount of water and this was resolved by staff as soon as the flooding had subsided.
Stacey Suffield, another holidaymaker who was staying two caravans away from the Pollard family, said however the park staff had done their utmost to minimise the damage. The guest said the rain on Thursday evening "could not have been anticipated", adding staff "went above and beyond to make sure our children were okay".
A spokesman for the Cayton Bay holiday park said: "Due to sustained rain in the area on Thursday, we experienced flash flooding in one part of the park during the evening. As the park was fully booked we were unable to relocate any guests, however, our teams worked until midnight doing all they could to resolve the issue and support guests affected, including helping guests back to their caravans and fetching meals for families who hadn't yet eaten.
"All standing water had gone by 7.30am the next morning, when our maintenance team was on hand to assist people through muddy ground. We have been in regular contact with all guests affected to arrange goodwill gestures, and the overwhelming majority of holidaymakers have been extremely grateful for our support and communication during this unforeseen situation."
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