I left a box of precious items at a Skegness holiday park. Where are they now?

A man has been left furious after a Skegness holiday park sold a storage box which he says contained sentimental items – but they claim it was empty. Niall Saynor, from Bradford, bought a caravan with his wife Jennifer in the summer of 2021 at Southview Holiday Park, which is operated by Parkdean Resorts.

The couple bought the £70,000 caravan using some money left to them by Jennifer’s father, who died during the pandemic, as a way to keep his memory alive. Mr Saynor says that “nightmares” began shortly after purchasing the caravan and claimed that customer service was poor throughout their time at the park.

The 60-year-old said that the stress of owning the caravan became “unbearable”, especially when he was diagnosed with stage four lung cancer at Christmas 2023, so they decided to sell it. With no interest in selling it privately due to fees, Mr Saynor says they had little choice but to accept Southview’s offer of £20,000.

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After clearing out their belongings from the caravan earlier this year, the family claim they left £300 worth of personal belongings and sentimental items in a storage box. He says they explained to staff members that their son would be back another day to collect the belongings in the box, but when he arrived the following weekend the box had disappeared.



The caravan and storage box at Southview Holiday Park
The caravan and storage box at Southview Holiday Park

Mr Saynor said: “We told two people that we’d left some things behind and that we’d come and pick them up as soon as we could. They said that was absolutely fine and we also phoned someone and emailed someone else about it the next day.”

It turned out that the holiday park had sold the storage box to new owners on the site for £200 without Mr Saynor’s knowledge, claiming there were no items left in the box. Mr Saynor added: “I said well ‘how can it be empty?’ We’ve got the only set of keys for this storage box. And to this day we still don’t have an explanation.”

Southview offered Mr Saynor the £200 made from the sale of the box and sent it via a postal order, which he says only equated to £179 after postage fees. Mr Saynor said: “They couldn’t even give us a goodwill gesture. Now when we contact them they won’t answer our questions and say the case is closed. They also had the cheek to say that there was an extra 55 pence waiting for us in their safe.”



Niall Saynor and his wife Jennifer
Niall Saynor and his wife Jennifer

Some of the sentimental items that Mr Saynor claims were left in the storage unit include his late father-in-law’s paintings. He said: “Skegness was always one of our favourite resorts. We’ve always been drawn to that area. At the time it ticked a lot of boxes for us.”

Mr Saynor says the family are “at a loss” about what to do next and are considering going to the small claims court.

A spokesperson for Southview Holiday Park said: “We have been in communication with Mr Saynor about the sale of his caravan and storage box at our site. The funds resulting from the sale of the storage box have been sent to Mr Saynor.

“We have investigated the missing items and have no record of personal belongings left on-site. Our teams have worked alongside the police to carry out a full investigation and as they found no signs of theft, we now consider this matter closed.”

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