A British pensioner was left in tears after her Benidorm holiday because there were “too many Spaniards” at her resort. The coastal city is well-known as a mecca for Brits abroad, but Freda Jackson’s expectations of being surrounded by fellow tourists during her trip may have pushed the stereotype to its limit.
The pensioner from Blackburn in Lancashire, who is in her eighties, raged over the number of locals she saw during her summer break in 2018, insisting that Spaniards should have “gone somewhere else for their holidays”. While protests against an influx of foreign tourists has defined discourse across European travel hotspots in recent years, Ms Jackson’s complaints tackled an entirely different issue. “The hotel was full of Spanish holidaymakers and they really got on our nerves because they were just so rude,” the grandmother-of-six said.
“The entertainment in the hotel was all focused [on] and catered for the Spanish,” she added. “[And] one evening, a Spanish guy nearly knocked me flying and he just walked off without even apologising.”
The Brit said she and a friend had paid for the trip using their pensions, but claimed they were given a hotel room on a slope despite requesting flat-ground access, and were allegedly forced to travel 1,500 miles from Manchester Airport to Alicante after they weren’t told their flight dates had been changed.
“I have never complained about a holiday before – but this one was a disaster from start to finish,” Ms Jackson said. “My friend and I paid for it from our pensions and it was a struggle trying to fund it over 12 months. The holiday was totally ruined. I cried after.”
A spokesperson for Thomas Cook said the pensioner wasn’t told about the change to her flights until six days before departure due to a “system error”.
“We are very sorry for the inconvenience this caused and are investigating to make sure it doesn’t happen again,” they added. “We … offered Ms Jackson and her travel companion a gesture of goodwill to try and put things right, which we hope she will accept.”
Earlier this month, another disgruntled Brit slammed a tourist hotspot in Greece for serving “no English food” – describing it as “the world holiday I’ve ever been on”.
Susan Edwards, 69, from Westerhope, in Newcastle, said the all-inclusive TUI getaway to Corfu offered guests “no hot bacon or sausage”, but a buffet of salads, fish and rice, which she was “sick to death of looking at” by the end of her trip.
