UK holiday park Pontins has received an “unlawful act notice” for its discriminatory practices. These include the blacklisting of 40 Irish surnames.
In its heyday, Pontins was one of the UK’s most prominent holiday park chains, providing customers with a wide range of sites and years of happy memories.
Today, the chain is a shadow of its former self. It is regularly regarded as the worst chain in the UK and now has only two sites.
The company will now come into more hot water as it has emerged that it has discriminated against Irish Travellers in several ways, including the blacklisting of 40 Irish surnames.
Pontins – a well-known chain of holiday parks
Pontins is a well-known chain of holiday parks in the UK that was established in 1946 by Fred Pontin. Pontin opened the first park in Somerset on the site of a World War II US army base. At its height, the chain boasted 30 parks across the UK.
Across its history, the company has changed ownership several times in multimillion-pound deals. It also entered receivership as recently as 2010.
It was saved by hotel group Britannia Hotels, which continues to manage – or mismanage – the two remaining Pontins parks. Under the stewardship of Britannia Hotels, Which? has named Pontins the worst holiday park in the UK in each of the last ten years.
Blacklisted names – the 40 Irish surnames banned by Pontins
Adding to Pontins’ woes, the company has now received an “unlawful act notice” from the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) for discriminating against Irish Travellers.
A whistleblower revealed details of a document entitled “Undesirable Guests”, which listed no fewer than 40 Irish surnames that Pontins “do not want […] on our parks”.
The banned Irish surnames were as follows:
| Boylan | McGinley |
| Boyle | McGinn |
| Carney | McGuinness |
| Carr | McHarg |
| Cash | McLaughan |
| Connors | McMahon |
| Corcoran | Millighan |
| Delaney | Mongans |
| Doherty | Murphy |
| Dorran | Nolan |
| Gallagher | O’Brien |
| Horan | O’Connell |
| Keefe | O’Donnell |
| Kell | O’Donoghue |
| Leahy | O’Mahoney |
| Lee | O’Reilly |
| MacLaughlin | Sheriadan |
| McAlwick | Stokes |
| McCully | Walch |
| McDonagh | Ward |
The list also included a footnote requesting that staff refuse bookings under any of the mentioned names.
Discrimination against Irish Travellers – sadly not a new phenomenon
The EHRC also found staff had created a separate list of banned guests, on which they recorded the names of customers Pontins suspected to be Irish Travellers. Furthermore, staff were instructed to refuse telephone bookings for customers with Irish accents.
Campaigns officer for the charity Friends, Families and Travellers, Chris McDonagh, said, “It is deeply saddening that Irish Traveller people have become so used to hate and prejudice that the Pontins ‘blacklist’ did not come as a surprise”.
EHRC chair Kishwer Falkner described Pontins’ business practice as “overtly racist” and bemoaned a “culture of denial” at the company. “[Practices] were instigated and supported by senior managers, and their leadership failed to take any action or accept corporate responsibility”.
Indeed, the company displayed blame-passing in its response, though it did issue an apology to all affected. A statement read, “The specific incidents reported by the EHRC are historic issues predating 2018.
“The call centre where the incidents took place has closed, and the majority of the staff involved have now left Pontins”.
Pontins must now draw up a plan to meet the equality watchdog’s recommendations, which include engagement with Traveller communities and equality training for all staff. Failure to do so by April 2024 could see the company face criminal sanctions.
