Caravan owners who have stayed at a Moray park for years say they are being ordered off the land by its new owners.
Until recently clients at Lossiemouth’s Silversands park had been able to pay an annual fee to keep their mobile homes on-site throughout the year – but now management have told them to vacate the premises in October.
It is believed about 25 caravans will be affected, and many owners say they will have nowhere else to keep them until the park reopens next spring.
Bridge Leisure, which took over Silversands earlier this year, said the change would allow it to improve the grounds over the winter.
But angry campers said the upgrades could be carried out without the need to force them from the venue entirely.
Offshore worker William Coghill, 55, pays to keep his touring caravan at the park and he and his wife Sarah-Jane visit it frequently throughout the year.
He said: “We’ve been keeping a caravan here for seven years. We love it at Silversands and every time I’m home we visit, but now we’ve been told to get off.
“Nobody has explained anything to us other than that it’s a change in policy, I feel like we have been treated like second class citizens.
“We don’t have anywhere else to keep the caravan, which is why we pay over £2,000 a year to leave it at Silversands.
“There is a good community of people who come back year after year, but now we’re being treated like rubbish.
“We’ve stood by Silversands through a lot, but enough is enough.”
Bridge Leisure said owners who paid an annual fee for use of Silversands would be being refunded the balance they are due.
But a number of those being evicted from the park this autumn have vowed not to return when it reopens.
One man, who did not want to be named, said he and his wife have travelled from Fraserburgh to Silversands regularly for the past five years – but would not be back.
He said: “I’ve been holidaying in a caravan for well over 30 years, and I’ve never ever been treated the way I have here by the last three owners – and that includes the present one.
“I’m disabled and can’t walk far so this is the type of break I can enjoy, and we don’t have another place to keep our caravan.
“I will never be back on this site again.”
Bosses said they were looking to the future, and by clearing the grounds over winter they will be able to add features to bring more tourism to Moray.
Bridge Leisure chief executive Andrew Howe said: “We have taken the decision to standardise the holiday season at the park and bring it into line with holiday parks across the country. The new season will run from mid-March to the end of October.
“Having a proper close season will help us to maintain and improve the park during the winter months, which is important because we have significant investment plans.
“This decision applies to all our touring pitches and to our static caravan holiday homes. Around 20 seasonal tourers have been affected, and all have been reimbursed in full for the reduced period.”
A spokesman added: “We’re absolutely not trying to treat any long-term customers unfairly.
“We will try to point people in a direction where they can find alternative storage for their touring caravans during winter.”