Samantha Cooper with partner Anthony Earl.(Image: Jam Press/@ellieikin6)
A mother turned vigilante whilst on holiday after catching fellow guests sneaking down to reserve sunbeds at 1.30am. Samantha Cooper had been enjoying a fortnight’s break in Cyprus with her family but was growing increasingly frustrated with the daily battle to secure a sunbed beside the pool.
The hotel maintained stringent regulations prohibiting guests from placing towels before 9am yet each morning Samantha described it as a fight to locate a decent spot. But it wouldn’t take long before the 40-year-old discovered precisely why sunbeds appeared to be in such desperately short supply.
Standing on her balcony at 1.30am Samantha witnessed other visitors creeping down to drape towels across sunbeds they wouldn’t actually utilise until late the following afternoon.
Following five days of witnessing this behaviour Samantha resolved to take action herself. Read the biggest stories in Wales first by signing up to our daily newsletter here
Samantha took matters into her own hands(Image: Jam Press/@ellieikin6)Biding her time until after the towels had been positioned Samantha, from Manchester, ventured down to the pool area and cleared the towels from the sunbeds, guaranteeing they’d remain accessible for guests who would genuinely use them.
“To be fair they deserved it,” her 25-year-old daughter Ellie Ikin remarked. “Every morning was a struggle.
“The hotel said they had rules of no one putting towels down until 9am but no-one listened.
“My mum noticed they were putting towels down at 1.30am from her balcony.”
She decided to take action(Image: Jam Press/@ellieikin6)Ellie said despite their efforts to “reserve” a sunbed, other guests wouldn’t even venture to the pool until much later.
“We were annoyed because the people who were doing it didn’t sit around the pool until later in the afternoon.
“They were never down there until at least 3pm.”
She added: “I was happy she pulled them off so other people actually got a chance to get a bed when they wanted to sit around the pool in the morning.”
However the sunbed monopolisers were undeterred, returning the following morning and sparking a silent nocturnal battle over sunbeds.
Ellie continued: “It’s selfish. I completely understand the need of getting a bed early but 1.30am putting towels out when you have no intentions of being there in the morning is ridiculous.”