Walkers in the Lake District: no Britneys or Dazzas

An activity-holiday company that ran an email campaign promising chav-free tours has defended itself, saying the mailing was meant to be tongue-in-cheek.

Northumberland-based Activities Abroad ran favourite ‘chav’ names through its customer database to prove its clientele was devoid of shell-suited lager louts. Company director Alistair McLean said they had received a great deal of support from the public over the campaign.

There were no Chardonnays, Dazzas, Tiffanys, Britneys, Candices or Biancas on the company’s books. There were, however, lots of Charlottes, Jameses, Sarahs, Alices, Johns and Lucys.

Considering the scope of Activities Abroad’s breaks – husky driving in Norway; canoeing in Slovenia; skydiving in Spain, and despite the company’s name, hillwalking, climbing and abseiling and gill scrambling in the Lake District, it’s hardly surprising it attracts few lovers of traditional Carling and kebab holidays.

Some of the breaks cost upwards of £2,000, but others, particularly short breaks in the Lakes, are closer to £300.

The email advertising the chav-free sojourns was sent to 24,000 people on Activities Abroad’s list.

Mr McLean claimed he was standing up for middle-class families. Speaking on Radio 5 Live, he said: “Everybody else in our society seems to take from us whether it is incompetent bankers or the shell-suited urchins who haunt our street corners.”

He said he had received only 18 complaints from the email list of 24,000.

One comment on the blog that started the furore was from ‘Candice’, who said: “How dare you define and typecast people by their name.

“I own my own business, have a post graduate degree, an undergraduate degree, 4 A-levels, an advanced diploma in life skills, a diploma in performance coaching, GCSEs, speak French and Italian and drive a Merc. Happy slap that.”

According to the Get Lippy website, this writer’s favoured chav name would be Tammi. The travelbite.co.uk site warns that chavs are eschewing their former haunts such as Benidorm and spreading to areas like Thailand, India and Australia, causing more discerning travellers to seek out countries such as Chile, Libya and Mozambique.