UK Holiday Firm Slammed For Travellers Blacklist

London, March 2 (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 2nd Mar, 2021 ) :One of Britain's biggest holiday park operators has agreed to corporate changes after it was found to have run a secret blacklist targeting members of the Irish Traveller community, the UK equality commissioner said Tuesday.

Pontins, which operates five camps in England and one in Wales, was investigated after a company whistleblower disclosed the list to the Equality and Human Rights Commission in February last year.

The EHRC said it had signed a "legally binding agreement" with Britannia Jinky Jersey Ltd, the parent firm of Pontins, forcing the company to change its booking system and hire new diversity officers.

A list of "undesirable guests" circulated internally at Pontins collated surnames common in the Irish Traveller community, telling its booking agents that "we do not want these guests on our parks".

Many of the surnames are common more widely in Britain and Ireland, and the list would have also barred some high-profile figures from politics, sport and entertainment -- including people named Carney, Cash, Gallagher, Murphy and Stokes.

Alastair Pringle, executive director at the EHRC, said the list recalled notorious signs in Britain from the 1950s when some landlords advertised rooms with the condition "No Blacks, No Irish".

"To say that such policies are outdated is an understatement," Pringle said in a statement.

"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." If the Pontins operator fails to apply the required changes, it faces the prospect of a fuller investigation and eventual prosecution under Britain's Equality Act.

A spokesperson for the company said: "Britannia Jinky Jersey Limited has agreed to work together with the Equality and Human Rights Commission to further enhance its staff training and procedures in order to further promote equality throughout its business."Some 58,000 people in England and Wales identified as Gypsy or Irish Traveller in the last census in 2011, with a further 4,000 in Scotland.

But the government has said there are likely to be between 100,000 to 300,000 Gypsy/Traveller people and up to 200,000 Roma people living in the UK.