Tour Firms Seek Greek Truce

Holiday tour operators were setting up a meeting with local officials in Greece yesterday in an attempt to resolve the escalating row over the lewd and rowdy behaviour of British tourists.

The move was announced after a string of recent incidents which included a holidaymaker being stabbed to death, two others being locked up for stripping in pubs and the arrest of two reps for performing sex acts in public.

Greek authorities launched a heavy crackdown last week on the drunken antics of tourists in resorts such as Faliraki on Rhodes which have developed a reputation for violence and hard-drinking.

The decision to get tough was prompted by the death of teenager Paddy Doran, from Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, who was fatally stabbed during a bar brawl on August 12.

Since then five holiday reps have been arrested in Faliraki for encouraging binge-drinking by allegedly organising illicit pub crawls in return from commissions from bar owners. They were later released without charge.

The move angered some tour operators who claimed it had been an overreaction and that their staff had been detained illegally and in breach of their human rights. "As far as we are concerned there is an urgent need for a meeting to resolve this.

A priority is to work together to identify a solution to the problem. But that solution is not arresting tour operating staff whose supervision of events helps maintain control," a spokesman for Club 18-30 said.

First Choice and Olympic Holidays also confirmed they were liaising with officials on Rhodes and were hoping to arrange a meeting by the end of the week which would help defuse the situation.

"If anything needs to be amended, changed or fine-tuned that will take place. We have not been doing anything untoward or wrong but we welcome any guidance by the local authorities," a spokesman for Olympic Holidays said.

"If they feel there should be something done we will take it on board and adjust our policy. We welcome a better police presence. In any event let's see what the local authorities have to say," he added.

Meanwhile, two Britons who were given jail sentences for stripping in public were preparing to fly home after paying hefty fines.

Jemma Anne Gunning, from Frome, Somerset, faced an eight-month jail sentence for stripping off in a bar in Faliraki after winning a "Miss Bottom 2003" contest. The 18-year-old was released from her police cell yesterday after paying around £1,675.

The teenager, who had been working as a nightclub PR girl, was jailed on Tuesday after a judge told her she had insulted Greek values.

Matthew Maloney, from South Wales, who was sentenced to a year in jail after "mooning" in the street, was also free to leave the resort after his mother wired the money to him to pay his €3,000 (£2,100) fine.

Greek policemen were standing behind the 20-year-old as he pulled down his trousers on the first day of his Club 18-30 holiday.

Speaking from his hotel in Faliraki, Maloney's friend, David Jenkins, 23, said: "We had been drinking all day. We'd downed about £300 between us in beer and shorts.

"Matthew was just drunk and thought it would be a laugh. He didn't do it at anybody in particular. He was just messing about.

"He went to pull down his trousers and the police came behind him and hit him on the back with a truncheon. He didn't know police were there.

"I think the reaction of the authorities is way over the top. I can't wait to get home. This place is OK in the day but at night the police just make you feel uneasy," he added.