Holiday park operator unlawfully blacklisted common Irish surnames

Pontins, owned by Britannia Jinky Jersey Limited, has now signed a legally binding agreement with the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) after a whistleblower alerted the watchdog to its discriminatory practices.

These practices included the monitoring of calls within its contact centre with the purpose of refusing or cancelling any bookings that were made by people with an Irish accent or surname.

A list of common Irish surnames was circulated among staff with the heading “undesirable guests”, requiring staff to block any potential customers with those names from booking.

The park operator also used its commercial vehicles policy to exclude Gypsies and Travellers from its holiday parks.

Alastair Pringle, EHRC executive director, said: “It is hard not to draw comparisons with an ‘undesirable guests’ list and the signs displayed in hotel windows 50 years ago, explicitly barring Irish people and Black people.

“Banning people from services based on their race is discrimination and is unlawful. To say that such policies are outdated is an understatement.

“It is right to challenge such practices and any business that believes this is acceptable should think again before they find themselves facing legal action.

“We will continue to work with Pontins and Britannia Jinky Jersey to ensure that our agreement is adhered to and its practices improve.”

The agreement requires Pontins to:

• Conduct an investigation into the ‘undesirable guest’ list to ensure appropriate action is taken within the organisation and that lessons are learned;
• Commission a review of its current intelligence system, booking policies and commercial vehicle policy to ensure they are not operating in a discriminatory way, and consider any recommendations;
• Provide enhanced training on equality law for staff in its human resources team and members of senior management;
• Provide training on equality and diversity for all customer facing staff on an annual basis;
• Appoint equality, diversity and inclusion champions across the organisation.

If Pontins does not adhere to the terms of the agreement, the EHRC has the power to launch a full investigation under section 20 of the Equality Act 2006.