Couple at Newquay hotel victims of £21,000 theft

A guest who was the victim of a theft whilst staying at the Headland hotel in Newquay, Cornwall, is considering taking legal action against the property.

On collecting the t-shirt they discovered the room card was missing and soon after found that it had be used to access their bedroom. A number of items, including a wallet with credit cards, iPad, iPod, and mobile phones, had been stolen.

The Randalls' car keys had also been taken, which were used to steal their Toyota RAV4 car, containing a bike and a computer. The total value of the items stolen was around £21,000.

Fortunately, the couple's dog, which was in the bedroom at the time, was untouched.

A spokesperson for Devon & Cornwall Police, who are investigating the incident, said that the burglary appeared to be an isolated incident.

Randall, a director with accountancy company KPMG, said that while a claim for his car is being pursued by his insurance company, Axa, he is considering taking legal action against the hotel for all items stolen from the bedroom.

"I felt that the hotel didn't put any protection in place to prevent this from happening. There were lockers in the spa area but I needed to use my key card to get through to the pool area where there were no lockers. I could also have deposited the key card at the pool reception, but there was no-one there."

Carolyn Armstrong, who has owned the Headland hotel with her husband John for 34 years, said it was the first time that a theft on this scale at occurred at the hotel.

"It is a very unusual situation as the key cards are blank with no indication of the room they belong to," she said. "The hotel has plenty of security in place - there are safes in all the bedrooms and lockers in the spa area, as well as CCTV cameras around the hotel."

Armstrong added that the matter is now in the hands of the police and insurance companies.

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