Arrived in Portugal on 17th August 2008 and was staying at Vitors Village, Ferragudo, Portugal booked with Cosmos Holidays Plc. On 26th August 2008 a small disagreement broke out between myself and the apartment manageress over items in the swimming pool. On Wednesday 27th August 2008 my family and I were evicted by the Cosmos rep and the manageress. I was not able to give my account, I was not given the opportunity and was given no reasonable options. We were given 10 minutes to pack and get out. I asked the rep for a number for her superior and was denied this. I asked for a number of customer services in uk and was denied that. I asked for a report to enable me to complain on my return and I was denied that. I left the apartments at 8pm at night with my teenage daughter, my husband and my 7 yr old child, with nowhere to go. I asked if I could get a flight home and was told I was on my own. I was given the chance to pay 900 euros to stay at a local hotel for the 4 nights but obviously refused. We left the apartments with the fridge and cupboards full of shopping and had to leave some items behind, simply because we were not given enough time to pack them. This all started because a local Portugese woman arrived at the pool late and could not get an umbrella. She was heard constantly slatting the brits over the Madeleine incident and was heard bellowing at the british children. She informed the manageress that these children were throwing items into the pool and as I was playing with the children and the items at the time was summoned to the side of the pool where the minor disagreement took place. The Portugese woman was hovering and carrying on in her language and being quite aggressive in her verbal conversations. I asked for a reason for my eviction and was told that 7 people had complained about my behaviour towards the manageress(Teresa Luz). I asked on the request of my solicitor to obtain the information of the complainers and asked the rep to obtain these prior to me departing on 31st August. I was informed that the envelope containing the necessary information would be available from reception on my departure. I arrived at reception and was told to collect the envelope once the coach had arrived. This I did and on opening the envelope, all that there was, was a brochure on the complex but there was no time to do anything about it as the coach needed to continue with the pick ups. I have many other families who are currently writing to me in support as they saw the whole episode and were absolutely gobsmacked to hear that we had been asked to leave the complex. They were willing to complain, support and help us but we were so shocked as this has never happened to us in all our years of travelling, that we chose to go quietly and deal with it on our return. Donna MacGregor has completely failed in her job as our rep with Cosmos. It was her job to stand by us, find out the truth and support us and she failed in every possible way. It was discovered that she actually resides in Portugal and it just felt as if she could not be bothered and was more worried about being called on her day off.

The whole holiday was a disaster from start to finish with our family being split up on the flight out, then the rep was not at Faro airport and 200 people were waiting for an hour to find out which coach to get on. Then after 2 hours on a coach, arrive at the apartments to be told that due to the previous people not vacating on time, we had to wait 2 hours to get into our room. We then were given a room opposite a building site with absolutely no view other than a crane and workmen, however, we did not complain. It appears that whilst my behaviour was apparently unacceptable (although the rep could not define this, nor the manageress), it is fine for a teenager to get that drunk in the complex bar and then jump off the balcony.

I have been in touch with the national newspapers who appear interested but I would rather give Cosmos the opportunity to rectify this matter promptly before the papers or my solicitor becomes involved.