Pontins guilty of racism.
 

People with Irish surnames or Irish accents were systematically subject to racial discrimination by staff at Pontins for at least the past six years:

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/u...-b1810387.html

Even Boris Johnson, having made racist remarks himself in the past, describes this as "unacceptable".

What I find interesting is that the Equalities & Human Rights Commission have resolved this by making the company sign a legally binding document to prevent this from happening in the future. When other racial groups have been subject to racism by companies on such a scale, don't they usually get prosecuted? :confused:

Re: Pontins guilty of racism.
 

1) They are NOT a racial group. It is a lifestyle.
2) Is anyone truly going to deny they are undesirable?
3) If they are to be considered a racial group, then THEY are the ones that are racist, because they routinely exclude gorgers(ie non-travellers). To be that racially pure can only arise from being racist.

Re: Pontins guilty of racism.
 

I still can’t get over the idea that Pontins thinks there are people too rough to stay in one of their mould-stained, greasy, pube-strewn chalets.

Re: Pontins guilty of racism.
 

Why do the Irish get to avoid Pontins when the English still might have to go? Deeply unfair.

Re: Pontins guilty of racism.
 

The law disagrees with your view that travellers/gypsies are not a racial group. However, this is a moot point, as Irish people obviously are and it is all Irish people who were systematically discriminated against.

I've met some decent people in the above groups & some vile people in these groups, much like any other group really.

---------- Post added at 22:43 ---------- Previous post was at 22:42 ----------

Haha. I think it was Watchdog that did an undercover investigation of Pontins and you're not exaggerating!


:D:D:D

Re: Pontins guilty of racism.
 

On a serious note I wonder how well these places do? I would have assumed they would have gone the way of the British seaside towns such as Margate after cheap European flights became more common.

Re: Pontins guilty of racism.
 

The ones that are left are now owned by Britannia Hotels. The shocking state of their accomodation shows that they are run on a shoestring:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/art...ab-mob-pontins

https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Hotel_...x_England.html

Re: Pontins guilty of racism.
 

So they were actually [allegedly] just blocking certain surnames.

Re: Pontins guilty of racism.
 

I used to work opposite the one in Southport, or Stalag 17 as we used to call it.

Re: Pontins guilty of racism.
 

I done my time at Lytham st annes:(

---------- Post added at 07:50 ---------- Previous post was at 07:50 ----------

Yea the lucky buggers.

Re: Pontins guilty of racism.
 

Allegedly not.

"if a person had an Irish accent and was calling from Ireland, then strangely that was ok. But if it was an Irish accent and the postcode was for a caravan site or an industrial estate in Britain, then that was a big red flashing light."

https://inews.co.uk/news/long-reads/...-to-lie-893063

Re: Pontins guilty of racism.
 

It was members of the 'travelling community' that they were trying to keep out. It's not strange that they'd be ok with an Irish person traveling from their home in Ireland (though I can't think why anyone would want to). Just people who have a reputation, fairly or not, for making a mess and being antisocial. Which is strange, because that pretty much sums up the Pontins vibe.

Re: Pontins guilty of racism.
 

I hate how the meaning of racism has changed to no leading mean race anymore

I would imagine most Irish Travellers are White and therefor Caucasian so if Pontins is owned by white people how can any discrimination between them and the travellers be racist as they are from the same race. Really grinds my gears

Re: Pontins guilty of racism.
 

My brother used to work at the Blackpool Pontins.

He was always telling us about the state of the place after 'certain types' of visitors. Kept him really busy at work as a maintenance chap though :D

Re: Pontins guilty of racism.
 

It's not an allegation, they've admitted to doing it

---------- Post added at 11:49 ---------- Previous post was at 11:48 ----------

Interesting, I didn't see that reported by the BBC. Still an illegal practice though.

---------- Post added at 11:56 ---------- Previous post was at 11:49 ----------

Yup. There was nothing to stop them from barring certain people who had caused trouble in the past or requiring anyone to leave who caused problems for the first time.

As you say though, it's hardly a wholesome environment anyway! The above links have people talking about others openly walking about smoking weed, drunken noisy parties wakimg people up at all hours etc.

A lot of pubs don't want travellers/gypsies in, but they aren't stupid enough to write it down as official policy!!

---------- Post added at 11:58 ---------- Previous post was at 11:56 ----------

I think you're confusing prejudice based on skin colour & racism. It's also perfectly possible for a member of the same race to be racist to another of the same race, both practically & legally.

Re: Pontins guilty of racism.
 

Reminds me of an incident at work many years ago.

Got accused of being 'racist' towards a couple of people. I explained to HR that it was nothing to do with race, religion or colour . . but if people are thick, lazy and useless I'll have a pop at them.

One day suspension, must try harder . . lesson learnt, I just let people do (or not do) what they wanted after that . . . much to the detriment of production & efficiency :D

Re: Pontins guilty of racism.
 

The problem is that people & organisations (including the police) these days are terrified of the consequences of being accused or found guilty of racism, so they tend to err on the side of caution to protect themselves or their business.

On the other side of the coin, there may be a personality clash, or a situation that you describe, that has nothing to do with racial prejudice. However, these days very few people are publically & openly racist as it's often illegal or deemed to be socially unacceptable.

What they do instead is to find fault with them via another avenue to get at them, whilst hiding their true feelings.

Until we can find a way to mind read, all companies, the judiciary & individuals can do is make a decision based on the information available to them.

Re: Pontins guilty of racism.
 

Not in the slightest bit mixed up

Races are built up from Main

Caucasoid , Mongoloid , Australoid and one I never know whether it is safe to mention any more.

Each of these groups have sub groups

So in the true definition of race A Caucasoid can not be racist towards another Caucasoid. You can be prejudiced to other cultures or beliefs but in real terms that is not racist . The real term that should have been adopted by modern culture is Xenophobia/xenophobic which is a fear or dislike of anything different ie country religion belief system

Modern society has *******ised Racism to fit an agenda and it is far to often cried unjustly

Re: Pontins guilty of racism.
 

It depends who's deciding the classifications. If it's a geneticist then it could be just three: Caucasoid, Mongoloids, and Negroid.

If it's someone else in a different context then you could get far more races as they will use a different interpretation of race.

Neither is wrong, they're just different.

Re: Pontins guilty of racism.
 

Everyone is different, even twins/triplets . . but we're all supposed to fit into the same box :rolleyes:

Re: Pontins guilty of racism.
 

Yes, they were.

https://www.cableforum.uk/board/atta...9&d=1614863048

Re: Pontins guilty of racism.
 

Top o the morning to ya sir, we wuz in the area and noticed the guttering on your 238 chalets were a bit buggered. We can fix em up right good n proper fer a fair price, what you say eh?

:D

Re: Pontins guilty of racism.
 

What I mean is that neither definition is wrong, they're different definitions used in different contexts.

Re: Pontins guilty of racism.
 

Indeed and it's pointless to fixate on the semantics of it. What people actually mean is far more important than what they say IMO.

---------- Post added at 14:51 ---------- Previous post was at 14:46 ----------

If you make a habit of telling jokes with outdated stereotypical material with racist connotations, you leave yourself wide open to accusations of being racist in the workplace or anywhere else.

Re: Pontins guilty of racism.
 

Actually, I rather doubt it's outdated at all . .

. . unless of course you know different?

Re: Pontins guilty of racism.
 

I actually had an (unsolicited) Irish guy at my door the other week offering to give me some "free" kitchen knives. He said that a neighbour had bought three packs off him, which didn't sound right if they were supposed to be free, so I sent him away. No social distancing whatsoever btw, until I told him to step back.

So, yes, stereotypes do exist, but the vast majority of Irish people aren't cowboys who go hawking door to door and this belief probably died out when Irish jokes did with the advent of political correctness.

Re: Pontins guilty of racism.
 

Irish (in fact any) jokes haven't died out, they're simply now only told among those who still retain a sense of humour amongst all this madness :D

Re: Pontins guilty of racism.
 

I personally haven't heard one for decades now.

Re: Pontins guilty of racism.
 

:clap::clap:

Re: Pontins guilty of racism.
 

Just book in as Smith hehehe

Re: Pontins guilty of racism.
 

It's most unusual for traveller families to make a booking to stay somewhere....

Re: Pontins guilty of racism.
 

That's true they usually cut off locks or remove fencing to gain illegal entry before they start living like pigs and fly tipping rubbish all over the place.

Re: Pontins guilty of racism.
 

Well . . . err . . .

Re: Pontins guilty of racism.
 

Well I haven't. In the 70's & part of the 80's there were jokes going around that started 'there was an Englishman, an Irishman & a Scotsmsn' and jokes going round about how unintelligant Irish men were.

Like I said earlier though, stereotypes do exist. Last time I was in NI, I was told that an unemployed man had been caught without a TV licence and was told that if he bought one immediately, it wouldn't go any further. Problem was, he had no money but didn't want to end up in court.

He eventually raised the money and bought a licence. When asked how he'd raised the money, he replied "I sold the television"! I was told that this was factual & not a joke, but i'm not so sure :D

Re: Pontins guilty of racism.
 

Re: Pontins guilty of racism.
 

Some of the names on that list are strange given the accusation of "racism".

I know three people with the surname "Ward" and none of them are even remotely Irish.

Seems like a case of "Surnameism".

Re: Pontins guilty of racism.
 

Probably got them off the national cowboy drive contractors register.

Re: Pontins guilty of racism.
 

:D:D

Re: Pontins guilty of racism.
 

You sound like a regular ! ;)

Re: Pontins guilty of racism.
 

:D

I’m a regular at Angry People in Local Newspapers on Facebook ... local news stories about people having a “holiday from hell” at Pontins are a regular feature.

Re: Pontins guilty of racism.
 

Don't the Sun offer holidays there for £9 or something? One of the Trip Advisor reviews said that, by the time they had factored in things like bedding rental :shocked:, it was more like £200!

Re: Pontins guilty of racism.
 

Re: Pontins guilty of racism.
 

To be fair, some of the 'hotels' I've been pre booked into while contracting would make Pontins look great :D

Re: Pontins guilty of racism.
 

A camp photographer :erm: :D

---------- Post added at 02:09 ---------- Previous post was at 02:02 ----------

Bet they weren't as bad as this place:

https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Hotel_...e_England.html

https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUser...e_England.html

I've been pretty lucky in that all hotels i've ever stayed in have at least been reasonable & clean.

Re: Pontins guilty of racism.