Posted on 02/19/2018 4:51:37 PM PST by nickcarraway
A father was accused of being a paedophile by Travelodge staff after he booked a room with his teenage daughter when they went to visit his mother in hospital.
Karl Pollard, 46, was horrified when police raided his room after the hotel reported him for suspected grooming.
He was staying in the Travelodge in Macclesfield, Cheshire, with his 14-year-old daughter Stephanie to see his mother, who suffers from cancer.
They had traveled four hours on the train from their home in south Wales to make the visit. Mr Pollard told the Daily Star: ‘I couldn’t believe it.
It was an emotional trip already – but it was made so much worse. ‘One minute I was brushing my teeth, the next I was being told I was a paedophile.’
He said he wanted to make the trip so his daughter could visit her grandmother before she starts treatment for aggresive lung cancer. ‘We’re not sure how long she has left,’ he said.
Mr Pollard, who cares for his wife Kim, 45, who has multiple sclerosis, booked a double bedroom for him and Stephanie after being told it was the only room left.
‘When we arrived the receptionist gave me a weird look but I thought nothing of it,’ he said.
‘We went up to the room to get unpacked and ready to see my mum. ‘It was only a 20-minute walk away – which is why I chose the hotel.
‘About 10 minutes later there was a knock at the door. A policewoman was standing there. I thought something had happened to my mum or my wife.
‘But she said, “We’ve had a call from Travelodge, they believe you are a paedophile grooming underage girls”.’
He says his daughter was left ‘distraught’ after being interviewed by police. ‘My daughter was in tears.
She was so scared – and thought I was going to get taken away. This has never happened to me before,’ he said.
Travelodge have given Karl a full refund for his stay and offered him an apology.
A spokesman said: ‘All our hotel teams are trained according to national guidelines supported by the NSPCC.
‘In the past proactive action by our hotel teams has helped to safeguard young people at risk. In this instance we got it wrong.’
A Cheshire Police spokesman said: ‘Police were called at 3pm on Thursday, February 8, to reports of suspicious activity at a hotel on Waters Green in Macclesfield.
‘Staff at the Travelodge did the right thing by reporting what they believed to be suspicious activity to officers, although thankfully there was nothing untoward and it turned out to be a misunderstanding.'
The time to question the appropriateness of their checking into a room together was when they checked in. A simple question, what is your relationship to the young lady, sir? We’re required to be on the alert for potential inappropriate arrangements involving minors, I’m sure you understand.
Calling the police as the first line of “concern” is in my opinion damaging to the point of legally actionable, it was extremely distressing to his daughter and very upsetting to the father to be accused of such a thing by police turning up at their hotel room door.
Sue their pants off. I’m sensing a gender line among those who are saying oh well, better safe than sorry. Ladies, put yourself in these shoes with your son. *You* are being accused of being a pedophile merely for traveling with your own son and checking into the last room available, a double.
No breezy dismissive oh well better safe than sorry then, is there?
Funny, no one asked you if you’d hit it...
This father will get nothing but grief for the rest of his life and not a dime for it ...
UNLESS he was a Muslim, then the entire staff of the Travelodge would already be in prison.
“they believe you are a paedophile grooming underage girls”.’”
Brits and their bypassed minority dialect of English. They might learn to spell it before they accuse people of it.
I know it is. It is about marginalizing parental access to children.
I know what to think about it. It’s pure crap. What indication was there that he was a pedophile? So now is a man automatically a suspect of one of the worst possible imaginable crimes simply because he dares to be out in public with his daughter?
Very twisted. If a mom checked in with her teenage son would the clerk call 911?
Bias crime if they don't. Public accommodation.
If you studied the English language, you’d know that standardized spelling is a more recent trend in English. I like U.S. English spellings, but I guess I can’t begrudge them them their spelling. It’s not too much labour to understand, considering their contribution to civilisation.
To them, all men are rapists.
Idiotic. So if an adult man is out with a teenage girl, ——that’s- proof enough to call the police on him and humiliate him?
Insane. This “me too” crap has gone too far.
Look at the photos in the article. Hell, the daughter clearly looks like him.
And the guy cares for a wife with MS. Super dad and takes care of his daughter. Traveling that particular day to go visit his sick mom. His whole world revolves around being a workhorse for women. And what does he get in return? A world of sour bitter women who fantasize the very worst about him the minute they see him.
Screw that.
I, as a parent, would never ever put a 14 year old girl in a room by herself in a motel or hotel anyway. When our granddaughter was 14 she travelled with us and we made sure our room had 2 beds and if not we made her a pallet on the floor.
What about the muzzies who actually do fool with teenage girls?
A minority dialect...by far.
This guy should sue the Hotel for all they are worth. This attitude is why Adults don’t want any part in helping kids to grow up mentally healthy. Because everyone is considered to be guilty of this crime unless they can prove themselves innocent.
Oh, the government approved it? OK, then, come on in!
British spelling
I hope they lose a ton of business/money.
At least the police knocked on the door and asked questions. Ours might have gone full SWAT.
People saw something and said something in Rotherham, too, and nothing was done. A British or Welsh father does something normal and we see the results.
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