I think the coach driver is a hero, and I think we should start a petition to get him honoured in the new years honour list.

It's an annoying habit but both Brits and Germans do this, last time I saw it in action the British were putting down towels on their way back from the pubs and clubs VERY early in the morning. God bless this sceptred Isle.

Sod the knighthood - a peerage.

Lord Bowden of Sunlounger!

Good show that man for putting a stop to sunbed-annexation; otherwise it would be putting towels on the Rhine-land next.

Three cheers for our jolly jack-Coach driver! Huzzah! Huzzah! Huzzah!

What a load of b&ll@cks! The pool lounger race in the morning is more of a British hobby than a German one. Each morning as I went to reserve my lounger with my Union Jack towel the crowd waiting to get the prime lounger positions were predominatly made up of Brits and not Germans. This is just a myth and something that amuses the Germans who can't believe that us Brits are gullable enough to believe it.

Herr Flick

...the hotel I stayed at issued warnings around the pool that towels were not to be left to claim the loungers and the pool attendants would regularly go around and remove said items and you would be required to go to lost property to reclaim.

Being a Krautlaender living in Limyland, I find it very amusing, how people get themselves worked up about this alleged German thing...

Funny enough, the cliché goes the the other way too:

in Germany there is the strong belief, that it's the Limies, who frequently use towels to mark their territory.

It just shows, that there are very sad people on both sides, who just have nothing better to do than accuse each other of being mischievous.

Best regards from the British ZimboKraut (You know who I am ;-)

What will be next, nuclear weapons in the race for prime pool position?

As a German who once got assaulted by a Brit with a knives for speaking German to my girlfriend while on holiday in Spain I'd say, yep, that guy is just the British pond scum one has to expect when being on holiday in a popular resort.

Since that assault I avoid British pond scum at all cost. Destinations popular with the Brits are a no go area for me now. May they wallow in their own dirt.

Does nobody remember the boer war anymore?

Look, no boer was ever implicated in sunbed annexation using towels, strips of biltong or patroonbandoliers of ammo for their Mausers. There's so much bloody sun in South Africa that they didn't feel they needed to.

... it's their habit of digging trenches on the beaches. I shit you not. Many Germans holiday in the Netherlands, on the North Sea coast. Quite why people holiday on this wind-blown stretch of North European beach with icy water (and Dutch "food"), I don't know, but the Germans are famous for excavating like the 3rd Armoured Infantry are going to be making a landing, to get out of the wind.

That, and the 'ik wil mijn fiets terug' thing ('I want my bike back', from WWII when the Germans confiscated every bike they could in the Netherlands) are the mainstays of Dutch humour, which tells you all you need to know about Dutch humour...

Yes, of course it is a stereotype; like this one. French guy of my acquaintance as a brother who runs a camp site in the South of France (imagine the following in an 'Ello 'ello french accent) says; "when ze Germans come, zey spend much mon-eh in zee shop, give much mon-eh to zair chil-ren to spend in zee shop.... mhy brother sezs "come in come in ve have rhoom". Ze British... zey do not spend as murch, or give zair chil-ren as murch, but still my brother sezs "come in we have rhoom". The Dutch... zey bring sacks of potatoes and sauzeges in a tin, chocolate sprinkles, flat meat, nasty bread, even zair own beer; zey buy no-ting in ze shop except a Dutch newspaper each day and give zir chil-ren virtually nothing... he does not want those EuroGypsies and their steenking caravans, so my brother he says "very zorry, no room".

I've known groups of Dutch people arrange a 'Dutch Day' on campsites, and co-ordinate the delivery of dozens of boxes of frozen Dutch snacks (like Bitterballen and frikandel) to be deep-fried for the party; some mad Cloggie driving flat-out 1,000km to Narbonne in a Volvo full of ice-boxes. Bizarre.

As for the 'Brits do it too', yes, but that's evolution. I remember family holidays as a child when nothing could match the awful efficiency of the German Towelkrieg, not even the terrible fact that the Germans were normally there for three weeks to our two. Over the years the Brits have simply raised their game and got organised, but it's not natural behaviour, it's survival. ;-)

Having just come back from the Maldives the Germans were very civil and worked on a first come first served basis. The Brits however would either get up at 6am and put towels on the sunbeds to reserve them for the 1 hour a day they actually spent on the beach rather than in the all inclusive free bar or would actually pull the loungers up onto their deck so that no one could remove them.

I regularly taske my holidays in Tenerife at an hotel attended by predominantly German clientelle and have never had this unfortunare experience. In my opinion the Brits are far too sensetive over such matters, and I relate this as a Brit.

"Being a Krautlaender living in Limyland, I find it very amusing, how people get themselves worked up about this alleged German thing...

Funny enough, the cliché goes the the other way too:

in Germany there is the strong belief, that it's the Limies, who frequently use towels to mark their territory."

If this is true then there must be somthing more sinister at work. Who would stand to gain by anoying both the British and the Germans? It must be our age old enemys.. The French!!!

hate filled Daily Mail to report this type of xenophobic rubbish.

And those of you who applaud this man's actions should be ashamed of yourselves. Its no wonder the rest of Europe thinks were a bunch of barbarians.

And for some reason you think this behavior is strictly limited to Europeans? Americans do it all the time, I've seen Japanese do it in Hawai'i, all over the place.

The worst I've seen it was at the water parks at Disney World. The best is on cruise ships, where the deck attendants will pick up towels on the loungers if left unattended for more than about 15 minutes. And since you have to check your towels out, there's always a little pissing and moaning going on.

In reaction to: In the Netherlands it's not towels the Germans are famous for...

I agree. The Dutch are the worst people to have in your resort or on your camping. They bring their own food, are sticklers for low pricing and consider the Netherlands the best country in the world (shouting this often while commenting on other peoples culture and their lack of tollerance - WHAT?!). Oh, and don't forget the campers clogging up the roads from Moscow to Manchester! They're as loud as the most yobbish Brit, as stubborn as a German, as flirtatious as a Spannish beach comber with crabs (no.. not the animals) and as respectful as Al Qaeda interogators at Abu-Graib prison.

Conclusion: when on holiday avoid the Dutch at all costs! Trust me, I know. I am one. And I feel the shame.

does anyone care?

If you don't like a certain bunch of people go somewhere else. If you can't get a precious lounger go find one or make one from lollipop sticks and horse hair.

Z

...to holiday in places where there are sun-beds, crowds and stuff-all sun. Here in God's own country we have more sun than we know what to do with. In fact, only the foolish & the Brit tourists go out in it.