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Sinead Butler
Sep 14, 2022
Penny Mordaunt confirms day of Queen's funeral will be bank holiday
BBC
Center Parcs has backtracked its controversial decision to close on the day of the Queen's funeral which would have required guests to leave its five sites for 24 hours.
In the original statement, the company explained it would close on September 19 "as a mark of respect and to allow as many of our colleagues as possible to be part of this historic moment".
"We hope our guests will understand our decision to support our Queen on her final journey."
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It added: "All guests impacted by the closure will receive an email today explaining the options available."
The five holiday parks in the UK are in the following locations: Elveden Forest, Suffolk; Longleat Forest, Wiltshire; Sherwood Forest, Nottinghamshire; Woburn Forest, Bedfordshire; and Whinfell Forest, Cumbria.
\u201cFollowing the announcement of the date of the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II, we have made the decision to close all our UK villages on Monday 19 September at 10am as a mark of respect and to allow as many of our colleagues as possible to be part of this historic moment. 1/2\u201d— Center Parcs UK (@Center Parcs UK) 1663064152
However, Center Parcs soon found itself in the middle of a social media storm after people expressed their outrage as guests in the middle of their week-long holiday who paid to stay at one of the parks (which at this time of year typically costs £1,000 for a family-of-four) were to be turfed out.
As a result of the backlash, Center Parcs ultimately made a U-turn and announced in a new statement that guests would not be required to leave for a day and then return to their holiday.
"The vast majority of our guests are either due to arrive or depart on Monday 19 September.
"We have, however, reviewed our position regarding the very small number of guests who are not due to depart on Monday, and we will be allowing them to stay on our villages rather than having to leave and return on Tuesday," it said.
"The villages will still remain closed on Monday and we will be offering a discount for the lack of facilities available on that day."
The whole debacle was injected with some humour as people on Twitter reacted with hilarious memes at the ridiculous notion that guests would have to leave for a day during their paid holiday.
\u201cCenter parcs customers Monday night in the forest\u201d— bobby (@bobby) 1663089344
\u201cCenter Parcs customers hiding from security on Monday.\u201d— Nick Walker (@Nick Walker) 1663085336
\u201cCenter Parcs at 9.55am on Monday\u201d— Will Martin (@Will Martin) 1663080353
\u201cCenter Parcs visitors leaving the resort at 8am to go and sit in the car until 4pm\u201d— Sean Bernard (@Sean Bernard) 1663104561
\u201cI\u2019m closing Center Parcs\u2026 for a day\u201d— Matthew Fellows (@Matthew Fellows) 1663085682
\u201cCenter Parcs to its guests on Monday morning\u201d— ed\u2122\ufe0f (@ed\u2122\ufe0f) 1663093820
\u201cCenter Parcs on Monday morning\u201d— The Inbetweeners (@The Inbetweeners) 1663096156
\u201cWhen you\u2019ve got the waterslides at 9 but you\u2019re getting booted out of Center Parcs at 10\u201d— Gwdih\u0175 \ud83e\udd89 (@Gwdih\u0175 \ud83e\udd89) 1663090133
\u201cCenter Parcs staff walking into reception on Monday morning\u201d— jack rem x (@jack rem x) 1663105765
\u201cCenter Parcs guests who refuse to leave on Monday\u201d— Nooruddean (@Nooruddean) 1663091581
Perhaps the big U-turn from Center Parcs was prompted by these responses...
\u201c@CenterParcsUK Good luck removing guests from the parks. You've trained them in archery, shooting, swimming, canoeing and swinging through the trees like apes. You've basically got 5 village-loads of ninjas to clear out.\u201d— Center Parcs UK (@Center Parcs UK) 1663064152
\u201c@KatMarBax @CenterParcsUK @Leanne61639007 queen died in her holiday home can\u2019t people mourn in theirs \ud83d\ude2d\u201d— Leanne (@Leanne) 1663067662
\u201cI'll be ripping you a new one at 9pm on the radio you utter muppets.\u201d— Iain Dale \u2692\ufe0f\ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6 (@Iain Dale \u2692\ufe0f\ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6) 1663091579
\u201cDreadful decision. You really think the Queen would want you to throw people out of their holidays?\u201d— Piers Morgan (@Piers Morgan) 1663087147
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