I stayed at Pontins and on second night found a mystery woman asleep in my bed

For anyone who has stayed at a Pontins resort, you should know what you are getting.

By that I mean their dwindling number of parks are very affordable, even during school holidays, but also fairly basic.

Lovers of luxury will not enjoy the experience, but some of the horror stories about filthy accommodation may be more unusual judging by my experience.

So, on my second ever visit to the Camber Sands resort I knew what we were in for… or so I thought.

Pontins is basic accommodation and food and can make an affordable base for an area.

Last month Pontins, which has dropped from five parks to two within the past 10 months, with a further one set to close next year, was again rated the worst UK holiday park brand in a survey by the consumer organisation Which?

Which? surveyed more than 1,700 people about their experiences at UK holiday parks in the past two years.

They were asked to rate 11 criteria, including quality of accommodation, cleanliness, facilities, activities, and value.

We had booked to stay at its Pakefield resort in Suffolk, but the company later admitted it took a gamble by taking customer bookings at the same time as a block booking from a company hosting an event.

The logic behind this, I was told, was that the companies did not always sell enough tickets and cancelled, leaving an empty resort.

So they allowed bookings for both and if the event went ahead, customers were contacted to say their booking was cancelled.

This happened to me, but regardless of how dubious a practice this appeared to be, the company was full of apologies and offered to rebook us at the same price at its Camber Sands resort in East Sussex.

We went ahead.

Our stay, including a “unit” for myself, my mum and my son, for four nights cost £347 half board one recent spring for all three of us.

This was the upgraded “club” accommodation, which means no extra charges for electricity, and it comes with the standard rooms, and an earlier check-in.

If you haven’t been, a Pontins resort looks like flats from a 1950s council estate dropped into a holiday park.

After parking, in a spot near our “flat”, things seemed bleak as a fellow holidaymaker, who had already checked in, said: “I hope you’ve brought your cleaning stuff because our place was filthy.”

Opening the door to the unit, I expected the worst, but although basic, the accommodation was cosy and clean enough.

I wondered if people go looking for the grime as soon as they get there.

It had a kitchen, bathroom, two bedrooms and a separate lounge with a TV and sofa that converted into my bed, which we will return to later.

The park was filled with kid’s activities, including a skate park, but everything looks tired as though it may have been new in the 1980s.

There was a go-kart track that never seemed to be open, but it was just metres away from a glorious sandy beach.

The original firm was founded by Fred Pontin in 1946 and grew to about 30 well-known parks across the country.

In 2011 it was taken over by the Britannia Hotels chain, when there were just six parks left.

In the past nine months or so three sites, including Camber Sands, Prestatyn in north Wales and Southport, suddenly closed.

The Welsh one is to house construction workers.

Last month Pontins announce that Pakefield will close next year to house 500 workers who will construct the new Sizewell C nuclear power plant, so only Sand Bay in Weston-super-Mare, Somerset, will remain.

The buffet food is also basic, but you can’t go wrong with the cooked breakfast.

For dinners, there were a few options, a vegetarian dish, but there were soups and salads, free tea, coffee and cordial and plenty of deserts.

It was perfectly edible and for a family on a budget the half board option saves lots of money, with just a small lunch required in the day, if that.

Nightly entertainment is on offer, but it is not to everyone’s taste and can be avoided.

We just used it as a base to explore the area during the day, including nearby Hastings.

After returning to the park on the second day we returned to the accommodation for a short while before heading to the restaurant for dinner.

At about 8:30pm we returned to the unit.

There was a pair of trainers near the front that looked like they could belong to next door.

I unlocked the door and walked into the kitchen, before seeing the head of a woman poking out from my duvet.

It is difficult to describe how you feel when you first see an unexpected stranger fast asleep in your bed.

My instant reaction was one of panic, and that I had barged into the wrong accommodation, and potentially disturbed a lone woman sleeping.

But, a quick glance around showed my son’s and my belongings, so I was assured it was her that was the intruder.

I warned my mum and son of the unexpected visitor and gingerly approached, quietly saying: “Excuse me, but you are in our room.”

After saying this, she stirred and looked surprised, but then appeared to go back to sleep.

I said: “I’m sorry, but you can’t stay here, can you please get up.”

She then seemed to wake and acknowledge the mistake and appeared shocked.

I said: “Don’t worry, just get your stuff together first.” I then retreated to the kitchen to afford her some privacy as she appeared to have partially undressed judging by the clothing strewn on the floor.

She eventually appeared and seemed to have had one too many drinks, to say the least.

I tried to ask her how she got in and she insisted she had used her key.

I also asked about where she was actually staying and it was at the opposite end of the park.

In a drunken haze she appeared to have found a unit in the same position as hers but in a completely different block.

I asked if they were her trainers outside and she said yes and retrieved them.

She was highly apologetic and embarrassed and made her way off.

After she left we found a pair of sandals that must have also been hers, before she soon reappeared walking around the block looking seemingly lost and I gave then back to her.

Next call was to security as I was concerned by how she got in.

Did Pontins only have a set number of keys and locks, meaning your key could open several units?

The staff insisted that each key was individual.

They tracked her down and spoke to relatives who said she had way to much to drink and got separated from them and thought she was at her flat.

I then got a phone call to say the situation was resolved and dealt with and it would not happen again, but there was no explanation as to how she got in which left us concerned, so I went back to see security.

A man produced the key and I asked him to try it in our lock which he did and it did not work so her means of entry remained a mystery.

After he left my son noticed one of the windows to the main room was slightly open.

Upon further investigation I found this window was damaged and could no longer be shut but could open fully from outside.

Her trainers had been left outside by this window and her slippers were inside near it.

It would appear this was her way of entry.

Security was contacted and they returned and after some efforts were able to force the window closed, but it remained compromised as the handle could pull off.

They were nice enough and assured that it would be listed as an urgent job and repaired next morning.

It wasn’t touched again during the stay and remained broken.

Beyond a verbal one from the staff there was no real apology and nothing given such as complimentary arcade tokens for our trouble.

I tried to raise a complaint at the park, but the manager was not available and I couldn’t be bothered wasting any more holiday time.

Two days later I saw the woman in the park and felt awkward to approach, but was desperate to know if she had definitely entered by the window.

I told her not to worry about what had happened but I was curious to know if she remembered how she got in.

She still insisted she had used her key, which didn’t seem possible, and said she did not believe she had climbed through a window.

I wrote to the company afterwards, but they refused to investigate because their policy is that a complaint must be first made at the park.

The firm replied: “It is disappointing that you detail other holiday makers who displayed inappropriate and unacceptable behaviour which impacted on your experience.

“Whilst we cannot and will not condone the behaviour we cannot be responsible for the actions of those residing on the park.

“If any guests is found to have breached our terms and conditions regarding their conduct/behaviour they risk being removed from the park.

“This is done quickly and effectively, in circumstances where we are able and when we are made aware.

“We are committed to providing the highest standard of customer service and facilities and we welcome customer feedback, constructive or otherwise.

“All feedback is noted on a weekly report and reviewed by senior management as we continuously strive to deliver the highest standards possible as we are committed to improving our product and service and your feedback assists us greatly in this objective.

“As per our terms and conditions, we can only investigate and resolve complaints that have been logged with the duty manager team whilst residing on park and as we have no guest solutions form or evidence to indicate or support this issue was raised with the team and left unresolved then we must inform you we are unable to assist further.”

So did the whole thing put me off Pontins?

Believe it or not, I used a discount it provided for a future booking to book an even cheaper stay at a different park that summer.

This time it went smoothly with no mystery guests.