Sunbed turnoff

Peak summer means peak lounger madness on the Costa Blanca

BENIDORM has found itself at the epicentre of Spain’s outbreak of sunbed violence as tourists have been filmed screeching out of the gates to bag a plum poolside position.

The sun-bedlam has become so bad that some resorts have been forced to hire bouncers to stop tourists tussling during the morning stampede for sunbeds.

One British mother said her holiday at Magic Aqua Rock Gardens in Benidorm was ruined after her fellow holidaymakers ‘swarmed like ants’ to claim sunbeds, leaving her close to tears.

The ruthless tourists forced Cayleigh Tuffs, 34, to sit under a water slide with her husband Andrew and their eight-year-old daughter on the first day of their holiday. “We’ve seen people throw

By Alberto Lejarraga

towels across the pool to get beds and people are running even though it's massively slippery,” she said.

“We go on holiday five times a year and this is the first time we've ever seen anything like this.”

Such ‘horrible’ experiences have been turning tourists off from Spanish holiday resorts, with Cayleigh vowing she will never return to Benidorm.

Katherine Green, a 35-yearold mum from Yorkshire told the Olive Press she had a similar experience at Sunset Beach Club on the Costa del Sol.

“There is literally a queue of over 100 people waiting to access the pool in the morning and, at 9am, when the gate opens,” the holidaymaker said. “And some people even just jump over the fence to get the best beds,” she added, before admitting her family had been forced to join the scrum or face losing out.

“We’ve had to get down there shortly after 8am to guarantee a spot as there are just not enough pool chairs