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Holidaymakers visiting one Spanish resort this summer have been warned not to reserve a beach bed in the early morning or risk a £210 fine.
Calpe, a seaside town in Costa Blanca, is dissuading tourists from setting up at sunrise with fines of up to €250 (£210) to halt sunbed wars in peak season.
Those who continue to pitch up on beaches on the Calpe coast, including Arenal-Bol and Playa de la Fossa, face losing their belongings to local police.
The Calpe Town Council said in a statement: “For some years now, the Town Council has received numerous complaints during the summer about the reservation of space on the beach, as when users arrive at the beach mid-morning they find metres of beach occupied without the owners of the elements installed being present.”
Under the Municipal Ordinance for the Use and Management of the Coastline, the installation of chairs, sunbeds or parasols is prohibited before 9.30am as it makes cleaning the beaches too difficult.
The local council said that any items on the beach before 9.30am will be confiscated by the police and taken to the Municipal Depot.
Umbrellas, chairs or deckchairs left unattended for more than three hours may also be removed from the beach.
Calpe Town Hall added: “This measure prohibits the indiscriminate occupation of the public domain and makes special reference to the occupation of the beach with elements such as chairs, deckchairs and parasols from the early hours of the day.
“This trend makes it difficult to clean the beaches, so the ordinance establishes that all items installed on the beaches before 9:30 a.m. may be removed and the owners denounced.”
‘Sunbed wars’ have raged in European holiday hotspots for decades.
Last summer, beaches on Greek islands became a battleground between locals and beachfront businesses which planted pricey sun-loungers on the shore, leaving some residents pushed out by the expensive seating.
A campaign, nicknamed the “Towel Movement”, saw people marching along Greek beaches protesting the pay-per-use sunbeds taking over public sands, with many holding signs decrying the situation.
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