Dad spends £500 on darts tickets only to be given ‘worst view in the room’
A father of two who forked out £500 for tickets to the darts says he feels ‘shafted’ after spending all weekend staring at a pillar.
Jamie O’Connor, 35, from Exeter, was on a birthday trip with his partner Amanda Pring, 31, and three friends to watch the PDC UK Open Finals at Butlin’s from March 2 to 5.
But the fire and security engineer said they ended up with the ‘worst view in the room’, unable to even see the action on the big screens.
He said: ‘All of our seats were directly behind that pillar. It was pretty much the worst view in the room. We couldn’t even see the big screens.
‘Where we were sat, at that angle, we couldn’t see anything.
‘The first player I wanted to watch, Josh Rock, was about to start playing when I turned up to my seats – but I couldn’t see anyway. All of the top players in the world were there.
‘I’m disappointed that Butlin’s would even sell tickets like that. They should be segregating that area so people don’t have to pay for a view like that.
‘I would like to come again but I’d be 100% booking a table seat. They’re in the middle and have no blocked view.
‘It’s going to cost a lot more money but I’d rather pay a lot more than be shafted like I did this time.’
Jamie claims that when he tried to contact someone on-site to resolve the issue, he was simply ignored.
He said: ‘I’m a huge darts fan. I play darts and I’ve followed darts for about 15 years.
‘It’s the first time I’ve participated in coming to a Butlin’s event. I’ve been to watch Premier League darts before.
‘It was £500 just to watch the darts then we paid the caravan owner separately, so in total it came to about £820 all together.
‘I’ve heard nothing from Butlin’s. I messaged the contact I’ve got on site and there was no willingness for anyone to say they were really sorry about it. There was nothing – it was ignored.
‘It would probably have been a good deal if I could see, but it’s not when you can’t see darts for the whole weekend.’
A Butlin’s spokesperson said in a statement shared with Metro: ‘Caravan bookings are made directly between the owner and the guest, not Butlin’s.
‘We’re sorry to hear Mr O’Connor was unhappy with his seats however we make it clear when we notify caravan owners of last-minute availability that the seating offers a restricted view.’
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