Alex Trelinski
BEACH hoggers will be fined for nipping out before breakfast to place sunbeds, towels and umbrellas to reserve spots on Calpe beaches in Alicante province.
The City Council has reaffirmed a local law that beach gear cannot be put down before 9.30am as it hinders beach cleaning services.
It has threatened to remove all such items and take them to a municipal depot where owners will have to pay to retrieve them as well as facing a fine.
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The Calpe ordinance also makes it clear that if umbrellas, chairs or hammocks are left for more than three hours during the day without their owner being around, then they will be taken away by the police, cleaning staff, or council officials.
The local authority has received numerous complaints every summer about people ‘reserving’ spaces on beaches.
Visitors arrive in mid-morning and find large swathes of sand occupied but the owners of beach gear are nowhere to be seen.
Items will initially be deposited at a Policia Local checkpoint and returned on payment of a fee.
If the beach gear is not claimed ‘promptly’ it will then will be transferred to municipal facilities.
