Scams.&.Scandals.S02E01.Pontins.Rundown.Ruined
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00:00I spent my mum's last birthday in an intensive care unit.
00:16With her slipping in and out of consciousness as they tried to stabilise her.
00:24It was all taken away because of that ceiling falling on her.
00:29Just gone, in an instant.
00:38February 2019, there's chaos inside Pontin's Breen sands.
00:45An air conditioning duct has fallen onto guests.
00:51Crushing Wendy Jones.
00:54She never recovered.
00:55Being a nanny was her favourite job.
00:59For the first time, we hear from her son demanding answers.
01:03I'm hoping Pontin's can be held to account and say they're sorry.
01:09They're sorry.
01:11I don't think they ever could sustain that weight. You know, it was inevitable.
01:16A former site manager says he told Pontin's head office he feared the ceiling structure was not safe.
01:23And I was told to shut you off, effing mouth.
01:24And separately, staff from across the business behind Pontin's, Britannia Hotels, accused the company of neglecting some sites.
01:38When I asked for refurbishment of rooms, I got two tins of paint and told to do it myself.
01:42I'd want them to invest. The chalets were disgraceful. Mould, leaking windows.
01:47Pontin's has been entertaining families for decades, but it seems the good times are over.
02:08Nine former and current staff members have told the BBC Britannia Hotels, the owners of Pontin's, in some cases, have allowed some standards to fall.
02:27Three of the five sites open to holidaymakers have now closed.
02:36And we've learned police are considering gross negligence, corporate manslaughter and health and safety offences after the death of Wendy Jones.
02:48This is mum with Dexter and Alice, my two children.
02:53And see how happy she is.
02:58Just those arms were made for hugging grandkids.
03:04We were never short of love.
03:07It's over four years since Wendy died.
03:10Her son James is still searching for answers.
03:13He wants to know why this happened.
03:17Mum had punctured her lung and had fractured ribs, fractured collarbone, femoral break because of the impact of the ceiling falling on her.
03:27Before she died, Wendy spent six months in hospital.
03:31One of the saddest things that I've experienced was mum waking up saying, who are you?
03:38Because she didn't recognise who I was.
03:41Police told us a post-mortem examination found a clear link between Wendy's death and the injuries she sustained at Pontin's.
03:50She never managed to come home from holiday.
03:53Who do you blame for this?
03:55The owners of Pontin's.
03:56The BBC filmed on the night of the collapse and spoke to guests.
04:03I was in there last night and I was sitting with my wife and my children and she looked up above and she see that the roof wasn't right. It was bowed in.
04:12The fire service said 40 metres of structural ducting and ceiling sections collapsed.
04:19On the floor, you can see the Fortland air conditioning duct.
04:23Insulation boards are packed around it.
04:26Some were later scattered around Pontin's.
04:29Wendy was crushed along with her mobility scooter.
04:33If your mum was here now, what would she be saying to you?
04:37That's part of why I'm talking to you.
04:42She'd say get justice, get the right, do what's right, make sure this can't happen to someone else.
04:54For the first time, we can reveal safety concerns were raised at the highest level.
05:05Years before the collapse, a senior staff member did speak out.
05:08My biggest fear was a wood collapse eventually due to the sheer weight.
05:14Mick Forster was a general manager at Pontin's Breen Sands.
05:18In late 2015, he witnessed these insulation boards being placed on the ceiling and air conditioning ducts.
05:24Some of them are stacked four or five high. You could see a bone in places. When they asked me to sign it off, I refused to.
05:37He says he told Britannia head office he believed the ceiling was no longer safe.
05:42In the end, I was told to leave them alone because I was interfering with them.
05:45And I was told to shut your effing mouth.
05:49Mick then says he demanded an inspection of the work.
05:54I spoke to the head office and I asked for a structural engineer.
05:58They said they would send one down to me.
06:00And I said I don't want one of yours. I want an independent structural engineer.
06:03In January 2016, a chartered surveyor inspected the ceiling at Pontin's Breen Sands.
06:15I don't think the roof could ever sustain that weight.
06:19We've obtained a copy of that 2016 independent report Mick asked for.
06:25And showed it to him.
06:28Executive summary, our conclusion is that the recent insulation has not been safely or adequately installed.
06:36And the safe load for the existing suspended ceiling may have been exceeded, which could result in a collapse of the ceiling.
06:44The report, however, also stated it was not assessing safe load limits of the ceiling.
06:50Who received that report?
06:52Head office.
06:53Was satisfactory remedial work carried out while you were there?
06:56No, no, no.
06:58What was your concern?
07:00Eventual collapse.
07:08Pontin's owners, a company called Britannia Jinky Jersey, dispute Mick's version of events.
07:15In a detailed statement, it said,
07:18The installation was undertaken in 2015 by a specialist contractor with a long history of working at the Breen Sands Park.
07:27In reference to the surveyor report we obtained, Britannia said the findings related solely to the ceiling grid over the dance floor.
07:36And the only concerns regarding the ventilation duct were that the rock wall installed was unsightly.
07:43It added, the findings were carefully considered and additional ceiling supports were installed by the contractor, which provided reassurance as to their diligence.
07:53It's devastating watching that. It's very, very sad. You know, she came to Pontins, she didn't go home again.
08:05This has been on my mind since it collapsed.
08:13The owners of Pontins also told the BBC, an engineer's report commissioned in 2017 raised no concerns at all about the safety in relation to the works.
08:23And said no concern about the fixings, pipework or the lightweight plasterboard boxing in was reported to any senior manager prior to the collapse.
08:33The BBC has not seen this 2017 report.
08:41For the first time, Britannia Hotels has given its version of why the ventilation duct fell onto Wendy Jones.
08:48It says, the cause was the failure of some internal fixings that held the brackets to the wall that held the ventilation duct.
08:57It added, the fixings had been installed years before Britannia bought the site and were not capable of being seen on regular visible checks by the head of maintenance.
09:06Separately, the BBC has been investigating allegations of neglect at the business.
09:17Our investigation received more than 70 photos from two Pontins sites.
09:23We've interviewed nine former and current Pontins and Britannia Hotels staff.
09:28All held managerial positions with decades of experience.
09:31The issues were numerous.
09:32I'd want them to invest. The chalets were disgraceful.
09:36The mould is shocking.
09:38At Southport, these images were taken last year before it closed.
09:43You can see mould in chalets, broken doors, damaged window frames and balconies with missing or rusting railings.
09:56Staff at Pontins Southport wanted to remain anonymous. We've used actors to tell their stories.
10:07The issues were numerous. A first floor swimming pool leaking through into a restaurant site below. Crumbling walls and balconies, mould, fleas, broken doors.
10:16The bare minimum was done. Monthly monitoring is stuff like fire doors, trips and slips. It wasn't written down. There wasn't time.
10:27We also obtained this video inside a chalet in Southport. There's extensive mould on the walls and ceiling.
10:35Inside Pontins' canber sands, these images from early 2024, a month after it closed, show damaged walls, doors and window frames, exposed electrics, mould in chalets and staff accommodation.
10:52Two former staff members here told us guests would take out their frustrations on them.
11:01When I asked for refurbishment of rooms, I got two tins of paint and told to do it myself. I'd want them to invest. The chalets were disgraceful. Mould, leaking windows. They'd cordoned chalets off rather than repair them.
11:13I'd make requests. It would be turned down. The walkway and balconies between the chalets are crumbling. Pool was in regular use even though it was leaking and the tiles were cracking. The mould is shocking.
11:26When you see a member of the public struggling, when you know you are ruining holidays, it's soul destroying.
11:31In a statement, Britannia Hotels said it was committed towards ensuring the public have a safe and enjoyable visit to all the parks and hotels they own and they continuously improve health and safety performance.
11:47So I've been keeping a list of all the Britannia Hotels.
11:51Over the past six months, we've also learned of a second death being examined by investigators.
11:55Chloe Haynes was found dead in September 2022 in her room at the Adelthi Hotel.
12:04Liverpool City Council confirmed to us it's conducting a health and safety investigation after a referral from Merseyside Police.
12:13We can also reveal two separate Health and Safety Council inspections have taken place at the closed Pontin sites in Camber Sands and Prostatin.
12:23In the case of Camber Sands, we understand inspectors found some of the chalets unusable, it needed urgent investment and it might be more cost effective to bulldoze the site.
12:37So I've been keeping a list of which Britannia Hotels are not open to the public.
12:42Over the past six months, we found up to 19 Britannia Hotels were unavailable to book at some point.
12:48We understand many were subcontracted by the Home Office to house asylum seekers.
12:55The government don't really give out much detail on the locations or the contracts they have with hotels to house migrants.
13:01That said, ministers regularly say in interviews that it costs ÂŖ6 million a day to house migrants in hotel accommodation.
13:07So it's fair to assume that a chunk of that will be going to Britannia Hotels.
13:13In addition, a BBC Freedom of Information request to all local authorities with a Britannia Pontin site found that between 2019 and 2022, 20 councils use their premises for temporary accommodation.
13:28So it varies, it's one night here or a thousand nights in some cases, but by and large, this is to house homeless and vulnerable people.
13:38And during that time, it must have cost at least ÂŖ1.7 million from the data we've been given.
13:43After the death of Chloe Haynes, Britannia Hotels said it had cooperated fully with the police, local authority and coroner's court investigations.
13:55And that the police told Britannia no action will be taken and they now await an inquest.
14:00The business added, it does not consider they are at fault and said they take health and safety obligations seriously and remain committed to ensuring the public are safe.
14:17It's now five years since James' mother Wendy was at Pontins.
14:21Since then, he's tried to piece together Wendy's death, speaking to lawyers, detectives and doctors.
14:30I don't like the word accident to describe this situation.
14:35I never have, never sat comfortably with it, with me.
14:41A son still waiting for answers.
14:43My sister blames herself for a long time, but I'm hoping that she now feels better about that, because it's not her fault.
14:56James says since his mum's death, he's not heard from anyone at Britannia Hotels.
15:01Has anybody said sorry to you and picked up the phone?
15:04No.
15:05They've not reached out to see how we are, what's going on, what happened that night.
15:12And they could have, they could have shown some humility, some decency, some humanity.
15:23Britannia Hotels told us the death of Wendy Jones was an unfortunate accident that could not have been predicted.
15:29They've cooperated fully with police and the local authority, and it has not been appropriate to engage with Mrs Jones' family at this time.
15:43Avon and Somerset Police said it was open-minded about the cause of the ducting collapse and are continuing to look into the death of Wendy Jones.
15:51The Department for Culture, Media and Sport, which oversees tourism in England, said it was deeply concerned by our investigation.
16:04And everyone who holidays in the UK deserves a safe, clean and enjoyable experience.
16:21The Department for Culture, Media and Sport, acordīŋŊīŋŊ, and the Department for Culture.
16:25And the Department for Culture, Media and Social Service and the Department for Culture.
16:26Transcription by CastingWords