Fleas attack old soldiers at '˜Basil Fawlty hotel' in Bridlington

Gruesome pictures show dirty bathrooms, broken furniture and damage to walls which the Royal Pioneers Corps Nostalgia Group said they found.

The 50-strong group also said they left Yorkies Guest House in Bridlington, with their bodies covered in bite marks after their stay on April 29 and 30.

Kevin Young, 57, who stayed at Yorkies with wife Anne-Marie, 49, said: “It was just horrific. Basil Fawlty had nothing on what we experienced.

“We got bitten all over our bodies. I even got a bite to my forehead.

“We turned up on the Friday and I thought I had the wrong door.

“We walked in and the smell was out of this world.

“We have all been in the Army and stayed in some bad conditions but I have not smelt anything like it.

“If it hadn’t been the 10th anniversary of the group I would have walked out.”

The ex-service pals paid around £4,000 in advance for their block booking.

They were unable to get a refund and decided to stick it out and tough out the weekend but said they found yet more problems.

Kevin, who paid £75 a night for his two-night stay, said: “We even had to fix the lift ourselves.

“When we got there they said it was broken, which was a problem, because the wife of one of the guys was in a wheelchair.

“They ended up going and staying in Scarborough, but another guy in our group was a lift engineer by trade and made two trips to Sheffield out of his own pocket to get the right part and fixed it.”

Mr Young, from Northampton, said many of the group went and bought cleaning equipment before staying in their rooms.

He added: “It took my wife a good hour to clean the room after we had arrived.

“We also had a hole that had been punched in the wall in our room and they [the hotel owners] had covered it up with a picture.

“It wasn’t until I move the picture I saw the hole which had a bloodstain around it from where someone had punched it.

“There was another couple who couldn’t even lock their door.

“They had to place a chair under the handle at night and give their valuables to other people in the group to keep in their rooms when we went out during the day.

“When they went to complain to the owner he said to them ‘sorry I have put you in the s*** room’.

“One member of staff we spoke to even said to us ‘what possessed you to book here’.”

He continued: “The plates for breakfast were still wet when we went down and we had to ask for a towel to dry them.

“The cleanest room was the dining room and I still wouldn’t let my kids eat there.

“I can definitely say we won’t be going back again.”

Kevin, dad to Scott, 25, and Sharon, 27, said the group had booked four hotels in total and no members staying at other sites had any problems with their accommodation.

Wife Anne-Marie said: “When we got home we washed all our clothes, even the ones we didn’t wear, and ended up putting the suitcases in the back.”

Group organiser Allan Sutcliffe, 64, said: “One couple who travelled from Essex showed up and both refused the room and went back home.

“There was grime and filth. Personally, we don’t think they had changed the bedsheets and there were no bed protectors.”

Mr Sutcliffe, from Saltburn-by-the-Sea, said the experience had been so bad some members had been put off returning to Bridlington altogether.

Hotel owners Trevor and Josephine Cruxon said: “We try our best, we sometimes fail. We tried our best to accommodate 54 people.

“It appears almost 50 were happy, we are sorry the others were not.

“Our hotel isn’t perfect, and if you look on Trip Advisor at 90 per cent of the other old, struggling, rundown guest houses you will see many similar nitpicking close-up pictures and many, many unsatisfied reviews.

“The truth is, we are not all newly-built, freshly painted standard, exacting (sic) sized rooms in identikit buildings, ie Travelodge and Premier Inn.

“You are welcome to our home (yes the guest house is our home) any time to take a look around and form a more rounded and informed opinion of what we and our hardworking staff do.

“I can assure you that you will not be bitten by fleas.”