Groom Gets £4,000 Wedding Date Tattoo But Makes One Key Mistake

An excited groom has told how he was left red-faced after getting the date of his big day tattooed on his arm.

Michael Crane, 37, and fiancée Linda Brown, 42, from Warrington, were left heartbroken when their venue, Best Western Park Hall Hotel in Lancashire, closed earlier this month in order to provide temporary accommodation to asylum seekers.

Michael, who paid £180 to have the date and time of his wedding tattooed on his arm, was then left with the massive tattoo... in a rather prominent part of his body.

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The couple have paid £4,000 for the wedding which was due to take place on 5th August. Michael even had family coming from America - who had also booked to stay at the hotel - and Michael worries he won't get the money back.

Luckily, Michael and Linda have been able to rearrange their wedding for the following day, so Michael will have the number five adjusted to a six, but unfortunately the time will be wrong.

"We booked it October. I only found out on the weekend when I saw a google review that somebody said they'd enjoyed the stay but the hotel was closing on February 7th. We weren't even told."

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Meanwhile, Adam Weate, 32, and Danielle Sugden, 29, had been also due to tie the knot at Park Hall in May.

So far, they have only been given £1,000 out of the £2,500 they paid.

Former Wigan Athletic chairman Bill Kenyon, who owns nearby Holland Hall, has offered both couples the use of his venue for the same price they paid Park Hall.

Adam said: “It has been a total rollercoaster. Our wedding had been cancelled twice at Park Hall already. It was due to covid, there was nothing they could do about that, but they didn’t handle it with any sort of empathy.

“Then on Sunday night we saw on social media that the place was going to close.

"I dashed there late at night and the told me to come back 12 hours later and all would be sorted - but it wasn’t. We got £1,000 of the promised refund but no explanations, including the rest of the money and all the guests who were booked in."

Mr Kenyon said: “There can’t be many things worse than seeing lots of finely-tuned wedding plans going wrong.

“We hope we can at least help some of the couples affected.”

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Jenni Halliday, Serco’s contract director for asylum accommodation services, said: “With the significant increases in the number of people arriving in the UK we have been faced with no alternative but to temporarily accommodate some asylum seekers in hotels.

"These hotels are only used as a last resort but as a provider of accommodation services on behalf of the Home Office we have a responsibility to find accommodation for the asylum seekers that are being placed in our care.

"The Serco team is working extremely hard to move people into dispersed social housing as rapidly as possible.”

Best Western has been approached for comment.