Mum-of-five loses £655 after Skegness Butlin’s caravan repossessed

A mother-of-five has lost £665 in a holiday "scam" after a caravan she booked online was repossessed – and she failed to receive any money back.

Emma Surtees, found the caravan on the Butlin's website in Skegness, and contacted the owner to book the vehicle for a one-week holiday with her family.

But she only recently found out the caravan was no longer available -but has not received a penny back.

Emma contacted the caravan's owner on Facebook late last year to book the holiday and has since paid the cost off in monthly installments.

Emma told Grimsby Live: “I’d booked to stay in a caravan in Butlin's last year for this summer. My children were all really excited. They love their caravan holidays and I just couldn’t tell them that they wouldn’t be going on one this year.

“£655 is a lot of money to lose as a single mum. This has happened to at least five families through the same man, and none of us have received our money back.”

However, the mother-of-five claims she had noticed something fishy on the owner's Facebook page and contacted him and Butlin's to make sure details of her trip were finalised.

However, Butlin's told her the caravan was no longer available as it was repossessed in January.

“I spoke to a woman over the phone at Butlin's when things started to get fishy and she said: ‘I’m sorry to tell you this but the caravan has been repossessed’,” said Emma.

“I asked her what I was meant to do now and how to get my money back and she told me to contact the owner, my bank and the police.”

The owner is said to have made “every excuse in the book” when trying to explain why his caravan was repossessed.

Emma added: “These things happen and so I gave him the benefit of the doubt and trusted what he said.

“I had been contacting him on Facebook and he said he had been going through some personal problems and that his bank account has been frozen. This means he cannot refund me my £655.”

She said: “He has stopped replying to my Facebook messages now and nobody – not Butlins, the bank or police – seem to be able to help us.”

Emma is a part of a Facebook chat with five other families who all say they have been duped into paying for a caravan stay with the same owner.

They are all striving to retrieve their money but without knowing his address, they are not having much luck.

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