A man has complained that he was kicked out of a youth hostel unfairly because he brought a rifle with him.

Peter Watt, 48, from Jarrow in South Tyneside, visited the Borrowdale Youth Hostel Alliance (YHA) hostel on June 20, 2024, with his friend and his friend’s seven-year-old son for a camping trip.

The party of three checked in for two nights but went home early due to being kicked out due to concerns raised about Mr Watt’s rifle.

Mr Watt said he’s a keen and responsible gun owner, and asked the bar manager at the Borrowdale YHA if he could go out shooting in the nearby woods.

“I’m a paper target guy at my local range, but I had decided to put the weapon away and didn’t want to shoot for the rest of the weekend, it wasn’t really for me.

“We went to Keswick in the daytime, visited the Pencil Museum, and decided we’d have tea at the youth hostel and go out in the night as it was the bairn’s first camping experience.”

On their way to Keswick they were pulled over by armed police who received a report of a gunman wearing a bulletproof vest in the woods, Mr Watt said.

He said he was instead wearing a sports vest and was happy for the police to check his rifle.

Satisfied that there wasn’t a problem, the police let him and the other two go, he said.

“We went into Keswick with the bairn again for the evening, showed him the town, and got back at 10pm,” he said, adding that management kicked them off at 10.15.

He said resolutions such as surrendering the weapon for his stay, and only himself leaving, were denied, and the trio had no option but to drive back to Jarrow.

Mr Watt said he wasn’t given a clear reason for being kicked out and sent a complaint email detailing the events.

A customer service representative from YHA sent him a response email which included an apology for ‘the way the situation was dealt with by the hostel team and for any inconvenience’, and acknowledged that the police had no concerns over the legality of his actions.

But, the YHA representative said hostel staff had their own concerns following ‘comments made by other guests’.

“As we’re sure you can appreciate, the safety and wellbeing of our guests is paramount, therefore comments mentioning a firearm, will concern our guests.

“As a result of this, the hostel team felt the need to ask for your group to depart early from our hostel.

“We do also acknowledge that the situation could have been handled better by our staff.

“A reason as to why we were asking you to leave should have been said.

“We can only apologise that this wasn’t provided to you on this occasion.”

However, a YHA spokesperson said yesterday (August 13): “Having looked into the matter, YHA (England and Wales) stands by the response that its Customer Resolutions team sent to Mr Watt.

“No member of staff told Mr Watt that he could shoot in the woods.  

“Mr Watt was told numerous times by the hostel manager why he was being asked to leave, the reason being that the hostel did not allow weapons on site and guests were scared.”