Two Harrogate men were forced to sleep outdoors on Wednesday night when they were refused a bed for the night at a youth hostel in the Lake District. 

John France and Mick Murphy had just completed a 15-mile walk up three mountains when they turned up at dusk at YHA Patterdale, where they planned to stay the night. 

But staff at the hostel said Youth Hostels Association (YHA) policy required visitors provide some official form of identification, such as a passport or driving licence. John had a driving licence, but Mick did not, so staff members said John was welcome but Mick was not. 

Not wanting to leave Mick out in the cold, John refused his offer of a bed and both men slept in their car. 

John said: 

“Patterdale has one B&B and it was full, so we had to sleep outside. It was cold and raining and we were drenched, so it was a very uncomfortable night. 

“We thought it was just the staff at Patterdale being inflexible, so when I finally got home on Thursday I called the YHA head office, but they confirmed that the policy had been correctly enforced. 

“But what if we’d been teenagers and it had been winter? There’s a big difference between a hotel in a town and a youth hostel in an isolated area. If they carry on like this, someone is going to perish out there – within sight of a youth hostel.” 

When visitors book places in YHA hostels online, they are told that “all guests aged 18 or over will be required to show a valid form of photographic ID upon arrival”.

It also warns: “We reserve the right to refuse accommodation at our discretion.” 

Forms of identification accepted by the YHA include a passport or driving licence, a student ID card, a Travelcard, UK CitizenCard, an EU resident’s ID card, YOTI digital identification, or government-issued identification for members of local authorities, the police and fire services, the NHS or the armed forces. 

But some walkers arrive at youth hostels without booking, so may not be aware of the requirement to show ID. 

Asked about the policy, a YHA spokesperson told the Stray Ferret: 

“YHA’s number-one priority is safeguarding the thousands of young people that stay with us each year. As such, and as per the industry norm for accommodation providers, all guests are required to have proof of ID when arriving at the hostels. This has been the case for a number of years. 

“The ID requirement is clearly stated in the pre-stay communication guests receive and also in our booking terms and conditions on our website.” 

They added: 

“Under no circumstance would YHA turn anyone away from its site if there was a risk to life.” 

But John said he did not accept the YHA’s explanation of its ID policy. He said: 

“This is not about safeguarding. Turning 18-year-olds away, most of whom won’t have photo ID, is not safeguarding them.

“The YHA have lost sight of the ethos they were founded upon. It’s a charity that is supposed to ‘help all, especially young people of limited means, to a greater knowledge, love and care of the countryside’.

“But the prices have rocketed beyond the means of most young people and they’re acting like any other branch of the hospitality industry. It’s crazy – the YHA have lost the plot.”

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A Harrogate blogger who was blackmailed by scammers is relieved today after managing to get back into her Instagram account.

Lucy Playford has run the Harrogate Mama blog and social media channels for six years and provides updates on family life in the town and visits to local businesses.

But Turkey-based scammers tricked their way into her Instagram account, which has 6,000 followers, and demanded money to hand it back. She feared the account was lost forever.

However, there has been a twist in the tale — a day after a Stray Ferret article highlighted the blogger’s plight, she has managed to get back into her account.

Ms Playford described yesterday how it happened:

“The hackers posted on my account tonight at a little after 9pm, thankfully due to your reporting and so many people knowing I’d been hacked lots of people contacted me to let me know the hackers were posting.

“This quick alerting led me being able to see the hackers had changed the name of my account to HarrogetaMama (deliberately spelled wrong to trick people) – and they were trying to extort money from my followers asking for investment.”

The suspicious Instagram post posted last night.

Ms Playford added:

“This meant now I could see what the account had been re-named, I could go through the verification process with Instagram again. This time the selfie verification process worked and I received retrieval codes from Instagram, albeit in Turkish, so Google Translate came in handy!

“After over two hours’ work between my husband and myself we managed to get back into the account. We have now changed the username back to HarrogateMama, changed the email address and set up the two-factor authentication.

“The swift action of so many people alerting me to the hackers posting meant I could get my account back.

“Lessons learned and message to spread about ALWAYS setting up two-factor authentication.”