A Facebook rant about holiday companies hiking prices outside school term-time has gone viral, with more than 143,000 people sharing it so far.
Supporters also began signing an online petition calling for government action and this has now gone far beyond the 100,000 signatures needed for a possible debate in Parliament.
Paul Cookson’s initial post, entitled “school holiday rant”, asked why parents should be “penalised” for doing the right thing and not taking their children away during term-time. It came about after he tried to book a holiday with his daughter.
He told the BBC he was stunned by the response on Facebook, with many people encouraging him to “carry it on and fight”.
Cookson, from Devon, set up a Facebook group called Holiday Price Increase, in which many people have shared examples of price changes.
One of the group’s members posted a link to the e-petition, which is entitled: “Stop holiday companies charging extra in school holidays”.
Cookson said the petition had about 3,000 signatures when it was first posted on his group.
“I thought it was exactly what I would’ve started, so thought I may as well help it along,” he said.
Mother-of-two Donna Thresher, from Essex, set up the petition last year after being “outraged” at the £600 difference in the cost of taking her family away for a weekend during the holidays.
She thought the petition – which calls for a “cap” on percentage price rises in the school holidays – was “dead in the water” until Cookson’s Facebook post ignited interest in it.
Cookson said the petition’s call for price regulation might not be successful but it was raising awareness and increasing the chance that holiday providers would change their policies.
“The ideal is to work with the holiday companies directly to advise them on the business of reduced-priced holidays in these set times – it can be done,” he said.