Fire breaks out at exclusive spa (From Wilts and Gloucestershire Standard)

Fire breaks out at exclusive spa

OVERNIGHT guests at an exclusive Cotswold health spa were left out in the cold when a fire broke out and staff failed to turn up for more than two hours.

But Le Spa in Cirencester has admitted it made mistakes and directors have completely reviewed their staffing and emergency procedures.

The incident happened during the early hours of Thursday morning when a bag of towels caught fire in a small storage room.

One customer, Mandy Scott, says guests gathered in the car park to wait for firefighters to arrive and get further instructions.

But she says she was eventually forced to drive home in the middle of the night because no-one from Le Spa was present at the scene to help.

She said: "The whole thing was shocking. They (Le Spa) didn't have anyone on site.

"I drove back to my house because I couldn't get into another local hotel.

"Thank god the fire wasn't that serious. The firemen had to ask us who was staying there and they couldn't access certain parts of the building because there weren't any staff there with keys.

"They could have been putting their lives at risk going into rooms to see if people were there."

Ms Scott, who lives in Broughton Pogs, near Lechlade, says she and friend Lorraine Sharp from London, paid £100 between them for a midweek break.

But she claims they were amazed by the apparent lack of organisation when the alarm went off at 1.50am.

Le Spa director Peter Nesbitt this week admitted there were problems and says the company has changed its policies to ensure it doesn't happen again.

He said staff had been contacted on the night but there had been difficulties getting through.

He said: "The first one didn't get the message until two hours after the incident.

"We should have had a member of staff there to look after the comfort of the guests."

Mr Nesbitt says the decision to have members of staff on call but off the site met official requirements but he says the policy has now been changed to ensure a night porter is always on-site.

He said staff on-call are also now required to give land line contact telephone numbers as opposed to mobiles.

Mr Nesbitt, who says Le Spa has contacted each guest to apologise and to make alternative arrangements, added: "We've done everything we can to put it right."

* Mr Nesbitt says it is believed the fire was caused by the spontaneous combustion of the towels, although damage was minimal.