We visited Minehead Butlins on June 28th 2002, having booked a one week half board holiday in a Gallery room for approx £190 each. I was accompanying several adults with a range of physical and learning disabilities, who had some very specific special needs, that Butlins had assured me would be catered for in several telephone calls and letters passed between myself and the camp in Minehead before our departure.
Checking in was a joy for us, as due to heavy traffic we arrived at 7pm, and the check in area was totally empty. We were dealt with quickly and efficiently, and soon had the keys to our room. The staff here were very friendly and helpful.
On arriving at our accommodation, I was not impressed. The walk in shower that Butlins had promised us was sitting on the floor in one of the bedrooms. A dirty great hole was in the bathroom where the shower should have sat. The room itself was filthy, and had a terrible smell about it. These problems aside, it was clearly not big enough to manoeuvre our clients and their equipment around in. Butlins were aware of our needs before we booked, so I was a little annoyed that they had blatantly ignored our requests, however, at this point assumed it was just a mix up, a clerical error. So, I jumped back in the car, and made the first of many visits to customer services.
On arrival at customer services, I waited in line for half an hour, leaving my client group waiting in the car. ( The facilities for my group were not adequate in the office,no decent seating area ) The first customer services person I spoke to was awful. He told me that the accommodation we were given was what we had booked. I disputed this, and after further negotiation, asked to speak to a manager. After an hours wait, the duty manager saw me. She looked through the paperwork I had taken with me, and agreed that they ( Butlins ) were at fault. She also admitted a shortage of suitable accommodation due to a virus on the camp, an
d offered us a self catering 3 bedroom apartment for that night, so we could rest and decide what to do in the morning. ( It was now 10pm! ) We were hungry and tired, so we accepted.

This time it was closed. So, we rang their out of hours service, using the red telephone on the outer office wall. They apologised, and arranged for 2 Z beds to be delivered. These arrived at midnight, with no bedding. The 2 delivery men ( about 17 years old ) apologised, and said they would fetch our bedding, then walked off, laughing. An hour and a half later, we were still waiting, and went back to the red telephone...
At 2.30am, the housekeeping manager came to visit us. He saw what a sorry state we were in, and promised to rectify this in the morning, as he agreed, the accommodation was highly unsuitable for us, and staying there was an impossibility. He also brought bedding with him! At 3.45am, we finally went to bed, most of our luggage still packed, ready to move or leave in the morning.
The following morning, we all went to breakfast. We were seated in one of the waiter service restaurants. The food quality wasn't bad for such a large catering operation, although the eggs were powdered eggs, not fresh. There was a good choice, from a full cooked breakfast, to smoked kippers to cereals.
We also found dinner that evening fairly good, again, there was a good selection of foods on offer, and the meal included a starter, main course, dessert and drinks. We had no complaints about the food, and the staff in the dining area were very helpful, friendly, and we were served speedily. The dining room itself was clean.

On meeting other guests, we were beginning to hear rumours of an outbreak of a bad tummy virus at the camp. On asking the duty manager if these rumours were true, we were told a small number of guests had been ill, but Butlins had the situation under control. They had a quarantine area towards the back of the camp full of young sick camp staff. If they had remained in the quarantine area instead of going out
drinking on the site, maybe the virus would have stayed under control. At 10pm Saturday night we were worried when we saw 2 young lads in the Butlins uniform walking round wearing masks, with a machine spraying disinfectant solution through chalet doors and windows. When we asked why they were doing this, they told us they were cleaners!!!
To cut a long ( yes, I've left a lot of this out! ) story short, on Sunday morning both myself and a member of my group were sitting in a casualty department in Minehead, both violently ill with the virus. The doctor there advised us to go home, as our entire group was at risk of catching this virus, which was a highly contagious air born virus, that rendered one incapable of looking after anyone.
195 other guests had also been diagnosed by then.
We were given anti nausea jabs, and the other staff members with me packed all our stuff, and we drove home Sunday night.
I cried with relief as we pulled into the carport of our groups bungalow.