Butlins break cancelled because "we aren't on the electoral roll"

[Butterlins]

Firstly - we are on the electoral roll, always have been, have voted in every general and local election, and can provide proof of being on the electoral roll.

We got a letter from Butlins today - I only picked it up at 6pm because I was working today, so I haven't been able to ring customer services. The letter says (happy to post it on here) that because we aren't on the electoral roll, our break has been cancelled, our money will be refunded, and this decision is final and cannot be reversed. *
*
A small amount of googling has shown me that Butlins do this for anyone with an Irish/traveller sounding surname. Surprise surprise, we have a surname common in the travelling community.
There is a number to call to "arrange your refund", and my googling has shown that when others who have received this letter ring to explain actually they are on the E.R and can provide proof of this, Butlins say "tough" and refuse to reverse their decision.

And I can find many many instances of people with "English" sounding names (Bishop, Cooke, Pitt, Patel) who AREN'T on the electoral roll who have never had any problems with booking at all. It seems to be directed only at those with "blacklisted" surnames, even if they are on the ER.

I imagine I'll have a battle on my hands when I ring Butlins tomorrow - anyone help on how to approach this? I'm fuming tbh. Me and DH have both booked time off work, the kids have been so excited.

Omg that's awful

An horrendous event involving who? OP?, no dear! Travelers. Surely you can understand it makes people cautious!

Ok, so were they sexless, colourless, religionless travellers?

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Oh Sweetheart, I have no problem seeing your point. You, however, struggle to see the point of the staff, working away at Butlins, thinking it is a fun place to work and being physically attacked! You know ABH! They then want to try to prevent that happening again!

OK, so they might not be doing it in the best way, but they are doing it in the best way to protect their staff.

No sweetie pie, they are doing it illegally. You know the way we don’t ban Muslims from Manchester because one Muslim killed people there? You know the way we don’t ban men from public places because some men rape?

They would protect their staff by banning people with a history of causing problems. Not banning everyone from the same ethnic background as some troublemakers.

I am white and middle class. I would hate to be held responsible for Nigel Farrage!

no dear! Travelers. Surely you can understand it makes people cautious! If it weeds out the wrong people, then that is not great, but from my point of view and from the point of view of the people who suffered threats of violence and actual violence, then that is not so bad as letting the wrong people in!

Maybe they should build a wall

God this gives me the rage.

Irish travellers is defined as an ethnic group and hence protected under the equalities act.

In exciting news you absolutely can claim discrimination against something you are thought to be whether or not you actually are.

So OP you can claim direct discrimination exactly as the people who were refused a cake could.

I really hope someone takes them to task for this BS.

@MammaTJ - so, should Butlins ban all men, then? Or all teenagers? Or anyone who drinks alcohol? Where do they stop?

And they're not just banning all travellers, they are banning anyone they even ASSUME to be a traveller, just based on my name. It's so unfair.

Cannot believe I’m actually having to spell this out. It’s really not difficult.

If we want to protect everyone, including Butlin's staff, we'd lock up all men, as that would stop 97.6%* of all violent behaviour.

However, most of us are aware that all men aren't violent and are reasonable enough to understand that you can't reasonably punish all men because of the violent ones.

Same applies to all groups. It's an easy enough concept, we don't punish people for what other people do.

*i made that up but it's not wildly inaccurate.

Loads more settled men attack Butlin's staff than traveller men attack Butlin's staff.

I'm shocked at some of the reactions here. So it's okay to discriminate against travellers unless someone who isn't a traveller gets wrongly labelled? It doesn't matter whether OP can prove she is on the electoral role or not, the bigger issue here is that Butlins have a discriminatory policy to prevent a certain ethnic group from holidaying at their parks.Banning individuals is the way forward, those who have a history of anti-social behaviour, like the woman who shouted and swore at me for taking my children to look at the carousel before it opened? Or the parent I saw hitting his child repeatedly? Or the family who shouted F-words across the children's playground?

Oh and you really are a racist, MTJ. Honestly, you are being the definition of racist.

Some Irish hotels won't take wedding bookings from 'traveller sounding' surnames.

You know it was a load of travellers who did that

What sex were they? What skin colour? What religion? Were they straight or gay? Were they able bodied?

ffs but sh can actually prov shs been there before its nothing to do with hr whats happened ther

thy cant just go round accusing people with a certain name of being violent

Actually, their right to feel safe in their work DOES trump your right to a holiday

It doesn’t trump her legal right not to be discriminated against. That’s a legal right. Stop saying stupid things mamma, your making yourself look stupid.

Honestly, MammaTJ, we've both been on here a long time. Enough now.

Yeah, another one who has been here long enough to see enough of this kind of shite from the same poster.

But if they are checking the electoral register and you are on it, what's the problem?
Surely they can see from their checks?
I don't understand why they're saying you're not.
Anyway, you can screen shot the electoral register and send it to them, or maybe to the DM, along with your booking and the letter saying you're cancelled.

MammaTJ vicious stabbing that occurred at Prest haven while we were there. I assume Haven didn't ban all Londoners...

www.leaderlive.co.uk/news/2015/11/02/gallery/man-is-jailed-for-knife-attack-at-flintshire-holiday-park-77262/

Grumpy I assume that the Op is on the non public version so without running a credit check or them sending proof they won't be able to see.

Chocky I'm discriminated against too as I explained I'm not on the electoral roll due to ex issues with councils permission and assuming those DV survivors who are registered anonymously can't either.