British holiday camp apologies for policy which led to looking out for ‘dirty Irish accents’

Pontins has apologised to the Irish Traveller community in Great Britain for discriminating against it for decades.
The British holiday camp chain has published a formal apology to the gypsy and Traveller communities.
It followed an investigation by the British Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) which found Pontins used various means to bar Irish Travellers from its holiday parks between 2013 and 2018.
During that time period Pontins drew up a list of 40 “undesirables” who they thought might cause trouble at the resort. They also published a list of surnames, almost all of them Irish, which were to be flagged up if anybody tried to make a booking.
In February 2024, the EHRC published an investigation into Pontins and served the holiday park operator with an unlawful act notice.
[ Pontins served ‘unlawful act notice’ over discrimination against Irish TravellersOpens in new window ]
The EHRC found that Pontins had built up a list of “undesirables” and a list of suspicious Irish surnames including Cash, Connors, McDonagh, McGinley, McGuinness, McMahon, O’Brien, O’Connell and Stokes.
If any of these names were flagged up in an online booking, they were checked against the address to see if the customer lived on a Traveller site or caravan park. The commission also found Pontins introduced rules requiring guests to appear on the electoral register a policy which it stated was disproportionately targeted at Travellers and Gypsies who are less likely to be on it.
One former staff member summarised the practice of discrimination as advising staff to say “we had run out of availability. Online bookings were terminated immediately. Third party bookings were also terminated immediately. The guests were set to ‘no longer welcome’ on the booking system.”
In 2017, an Irish Traveller tried to book a holiday in Pontins. He was told there was no availability, but when a settled friend rang up immediately afterwards, there was availability.
A whistleblower within Pontins was told to listen out for a “dirty Irish accent”.
In November 2017, an Irish Traveller and his settled partner had their holiday cancelled by Pontins eight days after booking it. No reason for the ban was given.
In a statement Pontins said the policy of discrimination against Irish Travellers were “clearly wrong. We accept the serious nature of the issues raised in the report. We deeply regret any distress caused, particularly to members of the traveller and gypsy communities who have been directly affected.
“Working with the Equality and Human Rights Commission we are fully committed to ensuring ongoing compliance with the Equality Act 2010, implementing a zero-tolerance approach to discrimination of all forms and to fostering an inclusive and welcoming environment for all of our guests.
“We have reviewed the points raised by the EHRC and have developed and entered into a one-year action plan, that will be monitored by the EHRC, to ensure ongoing compliance with the Equality Act 2010.”
The EHRC will monitor the implementation of the action plan.