Club 18-30 bosses 'shamed Britain'

The holiday company Club 18-30 has been reprimanded by the Foreign Office for tarnishing Britain's reputation abroad, it has emerged.

Officials have written to the tour operator complaining about the 'unacceptable' behaviour of its young holidaymakers in Greece.

The letter was sent after a string of incidents, including one in which
four Club 18-30 reps were sent home after they were filmed performing sex
acts on a Corfu beach in broad daylight.

The company yesterday revealed it is taking action to control the louts
attracted by its cheap deals at island resorts.

It is warning its young clients to be more sensitive to the religious
beliefs of local residents.

It has sent a written apology to Greek tourism officials and banned organised pub crawls.

Donald Holder from the British Embassy in Athens said yesterday that the
Foreign Office had told Club 18-30 the behaviour of some of its reps was 'not
at all acceptable'.

'There have been several incidents which have offended the Greeks and the
Foreign Office wanted to make sure the matter was being dealt with properly,'
he said.

'We at the Embassy are now working with the Greek authorities and the
police to try to cut down on some of the behaviour which we have seen in
recent weeks.' The Foreign Office intervention comes as Greek police
yesterday stepped up their crackdown.

Officers - many of them armed - swept through the Rhodes resort of
Faliraki and arrested five bar owners for playing music too loudly.

Police captain Themis Kalamatas said: 'We successfully quelled the
carnival atmosphere and this has managed to stop troublemakers, both clients
and bar owners. We hope the problems in Faliraki have stopped.' The arrests
follow a string of incidents on the Greek islands which have claimed the
lives of two young Britons and seen several others arrested.

Irish teenager Paddy Doran was killed with a broken bottle after a drunken fight in a Faliraki nightclub. Another British man died after a drugs
overdose on Rhodes.

Last week, Jemma Gunning was ordered to spend eight months in jail after
dancing topless in a Faliraki nightclub. The 18-year- old was released after
her parents ' bought out' her sentence for £1,675.

Another two Britons also received jail terms for exposing their buttocks
in public in Faliraki. One of them was Club 18-30 client Steve Ireland, 18.

His court appearance prompted the company to send its written apology to
Greek tourism officials.

It has also given written assurances that it will no longer promote pub
crawls that often lead to violence.

Club 18-30 clients are now being warned to be sensitive to the religious beliefs of Greek residents and the fact that they may be offended by public nudity or other drunken antics.

The company's area manager Mark Jones said: 'It is only a small minority
of people who overstep the mark and cause problems and we are trying to help
resolve the problem. For instance bar are no longer taking place. 'What we
have to stress is at the end of the day we are not parents and clients have
to bear the consequences of their actions.'

Club 18-30's letter had gone 'some way to helping resolve the problem', a spokesman for the Faliraki Hotel Owners Association said yesterday.

'We know it is only a small minority of British people who cause trouble
in Faliraki,' he added.

Police yesterday revealed they have served a closing-down notice on the
Bedrock nightclub where Miss Gunning was arrested last week for baring her
breasts during a 'Eurovision Thong Contest'.

Rhodes police chief Elias Halyvopoulos added: 'We are dealing with the
situation effectively.

'We have told the bars to turn the music down and those that don't will be
punished.

'It is only a small minority who are spoiling it for everyone else and we
are trying to sort these people out.'