I'm a football mum and our team's Easter trip became hell because Hoseasons wanted an extra £2,500

A children's football team has been forced to rearrange its Easter trip to a Lancashire beauty spot because Hoseasons wanted an extra £2,487 at the last minute.

Children aged 10 and 11 from Easterhouse Academy in Glasgow spent months fundraising more than £6,000 for the trip to Beacon Fell Holiday Park near Longridge, even competing in a Tough Mudder competition.

"Absolutely devastated"

The balance was paid in September, but with just three weeks to go, Hoseasons - which runs the caravan park - told organisers that they had underpaid. Natalie Sweeney, whose son plays for the team, and who has organised the trip, said she felt "absolutely devastated" by the news.

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She said: "We saw it online, I called up and we agreed the price I'd seen online. As far as I was aware, it was all sorted and we were looking forward to the break. The football team has become by social life! The parents get to chat and this was going to be a great chance to get together, relax and have fun. Then they (Hoseasons) phoned us with three weeks to go, saying there'd been a mistake and it had all been priced wrongly. They wanted another £2,487, which worked out at about £110 per family.

"I told them we're a charity, it had all been fundraised, but they said we would have to pay or they'd cancel it and we'd get a refund. Then in another phone call, the option to pay was taken away and they said they were just going to refund us - leaving us high and dry."

Natalie took to social media to share her frustrations, and after the story was picked up by some media outlets, she said Hoseseasons contacted her again, offering the 19 caravans at £20 cheaper than the originally paid price.

She said: "I don't think they would have come back to us if the media hadn't have been in touch, I don't think it was for the right reasons.We've lost faith in the company and couldn't risk anything else happening, so we decided not to accept the offer."

Get the latest headlines, straight to your inbox, with The LEP’s free emails Natalie said the footballing family searched high and low for other options for the Easter weekend, and have managed to secure new accomodation in Southport - meaning they can also keep the coach booking made for the Lancashire trip.

She added: "I'm so glad we've managed to find somewhere. There was panic and it was very stressful because it's so close to Easter and a lot of places are booked up. I just couldn't bear the thought of telling the children that the trip they've worked so hard for was cancelled. She said: "I'm so disappointed in Hoseasons and Beacon Fell Holiday Park. I know these things might be in their Ts&Cs, but it doesn't make it morally right."

What do Hoseasons say?

A spokesman for Hoseasons said: "We are very sorry this happened and have apologised to the Academy for any upset caused by what was a genuine administrative error. As soon as we realised our mistake we offered the group the chance to rebook their original holiday at the original price they paid and offered compensation of £70 per booking.”