Brit mum Samantha Cooper was enjoying a two-week sunshine break with her family in Cyprus when she became fed up with the daily scramble to find a spot by the pool
A British holidaymaker has been caught on camera shamelessly stealing towels from sunbed hoggers who were reserving loungers in the early morning hours. Sunbed wars annoyed one holidaying Manchester mum so much that she took matters into her own hand – and her daughter said ‘they deserved it’.
Mum Samantha Cooper was enjoying a two-week sunshine break with her family in Cyprus when she became fed up with the daily scramble to find a spot by the pool. Despite the hotel’s strict rule banning towels being put down before 9am, the mum says every morning was a struggle to bag a lounger – and it wasn’t long before she discovered why.
From their hotel balcony, 40-year-old Samantha spotted the culprits sneaking down at 1:30 am to claim sunbeds they wouldn’t use until well into the following afternoon – and by day five, the Manchester mum had seen enough. She strode to the pool and stripped the towels, freeing the beds up for swimmers and sunbathers who would actually use them.
“To be fair, they deserved it,” her 25-year-old daughter Ellie Ikin said.
Ellie said: “They were never down there until at least 3pm. 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.
“We were annoyed because the people who were doing it didn’t sit around the pool until later in the afternoon.
“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.”
Ellie, who was holidaying in Cyprus with her mum, said she was happy the move gave other holidaymakers a chance to grab a bed for a morning swim or some sunbathing. And while there was no drama – the towel owners going back to their old ways the very next day – the bold move made it easier to find a spot by the pool for a while.
She added: “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.”
It comes as sunbed wars play out in several other holiday spots across Europe, with another British family caught up in the antics declaring ‘if you can’t beat them, join them’.
And tourists in Spain have also been seen caught up in sunbed craziness way before the crack of dawn, even using torches to secure their sun-lounging spots beside the pool.