A group of American tourists are threatening to sue a Birmingham hotel , after claiming that the owners have exposed them to humiliation and ridicule.
The group from New York, all in their sixties, left the hotel for a tour around the city centre this week, each wearing a lapel badge bearing a photograph of popular children’s cartoon character, Popeye.
“People were pointing and laughing at us,” said group spokesman Hank Planc, “The receptionist at the hotel told us everyone would be displaying the sea-going spinach muncher on their lapel this week, and we should do the same if we wanted to fit in. We thought it was a bit odd but we went along with it. But we were the only ones, and we ended up looking like jerks. They’ve made fools of us.”
Manager of the Beuna Vista hotel in Handsworth, Nick Wickes denied that the American’s had been deliberately misled.
“It’s just a big misunderstanding, “ he said.” Remembrance Sunday is coming up, and we thought it would be nice if our guests got involved. Unfortunately, their ears aren’t yet quite tuned to the west Midlands accent.”
