DESPERATE holidaymakers have been using their kids to bag poolside sunbeds at a Spanish resort.
Footage from the Melia Hotel in Benidorm showed tourists – armed with their beach towels – sprinting to sunbeds as soon as the gates opened to the pool area.
SWNSKids at the Melia Hotel in Benidorm were seen racing to bag sunbeds[/caption]
SWNSThe scenes were described as ‘crazy’ as holidaymakers sprinted to the loungers[/caption]
Clare Fairbrother, 49, was on holiday with her husband David, 50, and daughter Lily, 10, and described the scenes as “crazy”.
The family had booked a VIP packages which meant that the family’s sunbeds were already reserved.
But other holidaymakers had to queue up to join the frantic race for poolside sunbeds.
And Clare said some took drastic action to send their speedy kids into the chaos to bag loungers for their families.
Clare, from Cheshire, said: “We were sat in the VIP area watching at breakfast time. We also had our own reserved sunbed area, which is part of the premium room we got.
“About 50 people in the queue and 20 of them ran.
“I didn’t see it get violent, but people were sending their children ahead first as they are quicker I think.
“The hotel restricted the doors being open to the sunbed area until 9am, so people queued up then ran when the door opened.
“As I said, no need to run there’s loads of sunbeds.”
Clare posted the footage on TikTok – with some followers describing it as the “sprint of shame”.
Another wrote: “Looks like a nightmare of a place to stay.”
A third said: “My idea of hell.”
It comes after one hotel hired a security guard to break up fights as Brits get up before dawn to battle other holidaymakers for sunbeds.
The Sun joined the early morning towel brigade as they started to queue for the prime location by the pool before sunrise in Spain.
Sunset Beach Club hotel in Benalmádena on the Costa Del Sol is one of the worst battlegrounds for spats over sunbeds.
Hundreds of Brits are forced to queue from the early hours if they want to be in with a chance of a lounger.
A bouncer in a bright blue top with SEGURIDAD arrived as there were more than 100 people waiting in a massive queue which snaked back into the hotel.
And in Benidorm, one distressed mum burst into tears after she got caught up in the chaotic sunbed wars.
Cayleigh Tuffs, 34, said she didn’t manage to secure a spot as Brits were “swarming like ants” to reserve a space by the pool.
The mum splashed out £2,000 for a Jet2 package holiday to Magic Aqua Rock Gardens in the Spanish hotspot with her husband Andrew 37, and eight-year-old daughter Charley.
But on their first day, they realise they would have to take part in sunbed wars and start queuing early if they wanted to beat other holidaymakers and secure a spot by the pool.
Cayleigh from Chesterfield, Derbyshire, told the Sun Online: “They’re like ants scurrying for food. It’s horrendous.
“We’ve seen people throw towels across the pool to get beds and people are running even though it’s massively slippery.
“We go on holiday five times a year and this is the first time we’ve ever seen anything like this.
“On the first day, we got here in the afternoon so there was no chance of getting a bed so we sat under a slide to get some shade.
“I was nearly in tears, it was horrendous. I’ve never wanted to cry on holiday before, but I did on that first day.”
The mum who works as an IT manager noticed the pool is packed with queuing Brits an hour before it opens at 10am then “chaos” ensues when the gates are opened by staff.
The mum said there are at least three different entrances to the pool and some even resorted to using a “sneaky” entrance near the toilet blocks.