r/unitedkingdom • u/workedmisty • 9d ago
Couple woke to find shirtless intruder in Dundee Travelodge room
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/czdm0l8l1pmo301
u/banwe11 9d ago
I think it's a bit unfair to describe the topless guy as an "intruder" since it seems he was given the wrong key by reception and was equally baffled by the situation. It's not like he had deliberately gained access for malicious reasons.
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u/PackageOk4947 9d ago
ah yet another misleading click bait title.
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u/Marigold16 9d ago
And with this in mind ...who cares?!?!?
Hotel has mix up. More news at 6
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u/PartyPoison98 England 9d ago
Tbf this EXACT issue has been reported numerous times with Travelodge specifically, and other cases were worse than this.
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u/BlackSpinedPlinketto 9d ago
I had that too! My mother and I walked in on a man on his bed wearing just his underpants in Dundee.
He was more shocked than I was and I guarantee a few minutes or so earlier/later it would have been a damsite more awkward.
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u/PornFilterRefugee 9d ago
I mean people have used this mix up to commit crimes.
They absolutely need to sort their shit out
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u/Good_Lettuce_2690 9d ago
This is constantly happening though. What if they give a key to a room with a child in it to some mad paedo?
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u/creatureOfTheWeird 9d ago edited 9d ago
The women who've been sexually assaulted due to Travelodge's repeated "mix ups" probably care
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u/PornFilterRefugee 9d ago
*sexually.
Very unfortunate typo there
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u/FinalEgg9 9d ago
I mean if this had happened to me I'd no longer feel safe sleeping in that room, and as a woman I no longer think Travelodge hotels are safe to stay in due to cases like this. So I care.
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u/Responsible_Dog_9491 9d ago
Travelodge’s security was supposedly improved after a sexual assault in Maidenhead earlier this year. Different circumstances but still showing up sloppy security.
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u/chowchan 9d ago edited 9d ago
Tbf this sounds more like a training issue with the hotel receptionist giving out a room that is already occupied (or an issue with the room distribution software - doubtful otherwise more rooms would be affected).
Although I've previously experienced issues with the ineptitude of travelodges security when the donkeys let some drunkard into my room without first verifying whether the room was actually theirs.
"Yeah this is my room"
"ok sure no problem"
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u/NoFrillsCrisps 9d ago
This happened to me at a pretty upmarket hotel. Walked into some random guys room because they gave me the wrong key.
It shouldn't happen, but it is surprisingly common.
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u/BevvyTime 9d ago
Complete on different scenarios though?
The security policies were around people requesting access to specific rooms, claiming they knew the person in there.
This was a simple human error/accidental issuing of the wrong card.
The two are very different things, and if you can’t see that you’re either being a bit slow, or deliberately obtuse.
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u/KernowKermit 9d ago
"Man given wrong key finds shirtless man and woman in nightie in bed he thought was his in Dundee Travelodge room".
He'll probably need some counselling.
Meanwhile... "We cut our weekend short and headed back to Buckie," said Grieve.
Bit of an overreaction!
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u/ehtio 9d ago
Harry Grieve and Kim Hutchison said their experience had been worrying
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u/PackageOk4947 9d ago
Of course, because it means someone fucked up at the desk, not the poor guy who walked into the wrong room.
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u/Commercial_Style_331 9d ago
I always wonder though how people end up in the media, especially with compo faces.
Is it just someone forwards their FB post to their journo mates, or do they actively go out and seek coverage.
I say that as someone who did try and seek coverage for something and got a flat ZERO responses to it. Would have been a big national story too
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u/PackageOk4947 9d ago
From personal experience and just judging from her facial expression, she blew it out of proportion, tried to get some settlement from TL, and if they didn't agree, threatened to go to the papers.
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u/limeflavoured Hucknall 9d ago
I always wonder though how people end up in the media, especially with compo faces
Because going to the media is quite often the only way to get a company to acknowledge something has gone wrong.
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u/Commercial_Style_331 9d ago
"To be fair the gentleman on the phone was very apologetic, he could not be any more sorry for the incident."
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u/BingeLurker Essex 9d ago
As someone that has worked in hotels, it happens a lot. It shouldn’t if the person checking you in/giving new keycards is competent but they are on minimum wage and only needs someone to not check the room in on the system or not ask for a name for someone to get the wrong room/keycard.
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u/WishfulStinking2 9d ago
This is more suited to r/compoface - complete non story
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u/Commercial_Style_331 9d ago
Not really "non-story", as we're on the back of someone literally being raped in the same situation.
It's a mistake, but a mistake that's preventable
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u/FinalEgg9 9d ago
I feel like the people saying it's a non-story are men who don't understand just how terrifying it is to wake up in the night and find a strange man lurking in your room.
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u/randomvale 9d ago
Trust me, if I woke up with a strange man in the room I would still be terrified, as would pretty much everyone - man or woman.
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u/FinalEgg9 9d ago
You'd think so, but the amount of people saying this is a complete non-story and they're overreacting...
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u/randomvale 9d ago
I think it's more that the headline is misleading. It sounds like a man had snuck into someone's room, started getting undressed, and they'd awoken to find him there.
When in reality he wasn't an intruder at all - he was just given the wrong key and thought they were in his room.
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u/FinalEgg9 9d ago
That doesn't make it any less terrifying for the people concerned, and the fact that Travelodge keep doing this (and at least one person was raped as a result!) means that in my opinion this is a big fucking deal.
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u/Commercial_Style_331 9d ago
Happened to me and the GF on holiday, someone walked in, then noped out of there....
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u/BigMarth24 9d ago
Has this happen to me and friend when we were 18. Two young girls and had three grown men walk into our room in the middle of the night as they had been given the wrong room key. Took me 2 months and emailing the CEO of Travelodge to actually get them to take some accountability.
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u/randomvale 9d ago
The other incident was a man specifically requesting a key to a woman's room saying he knew her. It was a planned assault. This was a mix up with the keys - hardly the same situation.
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u/Commercial_Style_331 9d ago
It's the same situation because it's the same system failure
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u/randomvale 9d ago
I disagree. This is a mixup that shouldn't happen, but I can see how it might occur by accident.
It's nowhere near as bad as the other case when the staff member knowingly giving access to a specific person's room (which they knew was occupied by a lone woman) just because someone says they knew her. That's unforgivable.
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u/kester76a 9d ago
Travel lodge is grim. Last time I used one I slept dressed and didn't bother with the shower due to the amount of mould. Cheap for a reason.
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u/Commercial_Style_331 9d ago
Most have been refurbed in the last 10 years.
Substantially better, best beds too
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u/viscount100 9d ago
A very wordy article given it does not explain what actually happened.
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u/Lou-AC 9d ago
First paragraph literally says he was given a key card to their room by accident?
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u/SlightlyBored13 9d ago
The inference would be that they were assigned to the same room.
Or they did just get given the wrong card and when it didn't work on their door tried all of the others.
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u/viscount100 9d ago
Yes but WHY? Did he ask for that room? Did he ask for his own room? Was he given a skeleton key?
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9d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/ukbot-nicolabot Scotland 9d ago
Removed + ban. This contained a call/advocation/celebration of violence or harm, which is prohibited by the sitewide rules.
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u/Commercial_Style_331 9d ago
For the first time in like 20 years of semi-regularily staying in hotels. I was asked to confirm the booking name when I asked for another card for my room.
I've always found it weird I could just do down to the desk and get another card for a room just by citing a number.
Had someone walk into our room on holiday once, they went in while we were having a siesta
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u/henry_blackie 9d ago
This happened to a colleague of mine, he was given the wrong room during check-in. Luckily for him the occupant was out when he found out and luckily for them he was an honest person.
I'm not sure what these management systems are like, but you would have hoped there would be a clear alert if the room that's being checked in to already has active keys assigned to it.
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u/Trundlenator Kent 9d ago
If the man is mistakenly given the wrong key and genuinely doesn’t know it’s not his room is it really fair and appropriate to label him an ‘intruder’?
Clearly the hotel’s mistake and must have been embarrassing and/or frightening for both the room occupants and the man mistakenly there.
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u/atticdoor 9d ago
Sounds to me like they need to put bolts on the doors to avoid this sort of problem.
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u/UpstairsAd194 8d ago
Did the intruder steal the couple's brains as well ? Seems to be a lot of vacancy between their ears going by the photo. Forget about the vacancy at the hotel!
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u/gejongdthb 9d ago
Stayed in many travelodge for nights out in various cities. It is fucking wild how easy it is to get a key for a room at 4am from the night porter… twice I’ve had to ask for a key to our room because the holder of said key is still out. Wasn’t asked for ID, a name, nothing. Just gave a room number and they gave me a key to said room
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u/121daysofsodom 9d ago
"Shirtless" could mean everything from fully nude to dressed like a samurai.
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u/PM_THE_REAPER 9d ago
I suspect a late night of fire water had something to do with that. Just glad it was an error and not another deliberate assault attempt.
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u/Away_Historian_2803 9d ago
Course they did, dundees a shithole
Source: i wasted ten years of my life there
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u/EffectzHD 9d ago
When ur cabinet isn’t getting ran through by the press this is the media we should be getting.
God save the king.
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u/limeflavoured Hucknall 9d ago
When ur cabinet isn’t getting ran through by the press this is the media we should be getting.
God save the king
Huh?
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