Butlins

[alisonmorgan]

We have just returned from a holiday at Butlins Bognor, we went half board and as my son has a dairy allergy we checked that what I was giving him contained no dairy products, unfortunately something wasn't right as we ended up in an ambulance on our way to A & E. Butlins were less than helpful saying the food did not contain any dairy products. My response I believe was the only one I could give, "If it wasn't in the food it must be the lack of cleaning!"
Please, if you are going to butlins don't believe things are dairy free I don't want anyone to have to go through what we did.
:( Alison

[Pam]

Hi Alison and welcome to the site. Thanks for posting your story, it must have been a real let down that your holiday was spoiled by someone else's ignorance. We tend to go self catering when we go away anywhere, then at least you know what you are eating, but it means that you don't really get a break as you end up doing all the cooking and cleaning up afterwards.

We'd love to hear more about you and your son's allergy and we always like to know about new products that have passed us by, come back and see us again soon.

[Copper]

Welcome to the site Alison. How typical for somebody (Butlins in this case) to say it wasn't anything we did/provided! I think I would go self catering like Pam.

[Lan]

Hi Alison.

I'm sorry to hear about your holiday. When we went to Germany I was ill for about a month after.

I would recommend Centre Parks for holidays as they refused to serve me, until I had spoken to the Chef. When I was served I was a 100% certain that the food was totally dairy free.

Kind Regards,

Lan. :D

[matt]

i can only repeat what the others have said. except for one thing. threaten to sue them or even better see a solicitor.

you did all you could and they said it was ok then they supplied unsafe food. at minimum you should have cost of holiday back if not compensation. don't get mad, get even.

[paranoidangel]

I can't believe how crap that is of Butlins. When I got off my plane at Singapore and felt sick I told the cabin crew it was probably something I'd eaten and they were a bit worried about that! Having said that, on one of my four flights my non-lactose meal included flora margarine.

[Pam]

I think it all comes down to ignorance. Most people aren't aware that milk goes beyond the white liquid that comes in bottles. They don't actually think butter=milk etc and I know myself that until I saw a dietician with my daughter and had a lot of less obvious things pointed out to me I would probably have made mistakes too. Even reading labels can be confusing, there are so many milk derivatives that you wouldn't think about unless you are as informed as we are.

[ellsie]

It only takes someone to use a knife with butter on to make a sandwich for you and you have the potential for an allergic reaction. People don't always think about spoons or knives because they are not aware how dangerous it is . If I go out I always let them know in advance, if poss, I always speak to the chef or manager as the staff may be guessing ,and I always tell them that if I do ingest anything that it can be fatal! It never really sets the atmosphere for an evening out but I find that they are much more helpful if they realise the cost of an error,and then I can relax a bit:drunk:

Self catering is much easier and then you can prepare food to take out for him if you want to go for a meal or stick to plain food. Quite a few places provide lists of milk free but not everywhere sadly.

[emi_150]

I havnt got the courage to tell people im dairy free so i just stick with everything that i know cant possible have dairy in, then again i never can be sure! I am a bit shy whens it comes to telling people im dairy free as when they find out they spend the next hour discussing how they couldnt possibly live without dairy etc etc!

[matt]

i'd tell them and put up with that irritation above the ibs i'd get otherwise. what foods can you be 100% don't have dairy? depends on how sensitive you are. veggies often have some butter, serving spoon could be used to dish out cream sauce then your dinner......the list goes on.

sarcasm often works to shut people up. "oh you couldn't live without dairy, it'd be too difficult? you'd miss all the cheese and so on? well isn't that a coincidence, that's how i feel aswell. but i try to not think about it as i find it too upsetting" and so on

[ellsie]

Yes i am too sensitive to take a risk on being contaminated. If my husband is with me he likes to joke about how rich he is going to be if he has to sue them if they give me any milk! This goes down really well, especially in America!:violin:

[flopsy25]

ive been to butlins twice now and ive never had a problem because i go self catering. i buy my food and keep it seperate from my partner. i dont fancy a asthma attack on my holiday so we both cook it far more cheaper and i can eat to my hearts content.