A British family claim a hotel in Italy ordered them to pay a €200 fine or sleep "under a bridge" as the manager threatened to kick them out over a blocked sink.
Mum Tina Trott, 48, was on holiday with her two sons, 11 and 13, in Palermo in what was meant to be a special trip because it was their first "grown up" getaway together.
They were three days into their two-week, post-lockdown break when the manager allegedly told Tina, from Hull, the sink in her room had been damaged and she would have to pay for it.
Tina claims she had to seek help from the local police force after the manager threatened to kick the family out of the hotel and "throw your stuff out" unless she gave him €200 (£180) on the spot and pay for repairs to a blocked sink, HullLive reports.
The mum said she had been washing swimwear in the sink, but suspects the damage was caused by previous guests.
She said: "We went to the beach on the first day and on the second day we went to the catacombs. On the third day we went to a different beach.
"We washed our things in the sink each day. On the third day we came back and [the manager] stopped us at reception and said 'what room are you going to?'
"He said 'there's been damages to the sink upstairs' and we're going to have to pay for it."
Even though she denied damaging the sink, Tina offered to pay the €200, but told the manager she didn't have enough money and she would transfer the amount when she returned to England.
She said: "I offered to pay the bill but couldn’t until I got back to England and he refused saying 'if you don’t pay €200 I am going to throw your stuff out' and had to leave today.
"I said 'I'm not paying it and can't pay it until I get back'.
"I have spoke to some plumbers and they've said that it must have been a backlog but that it couldn't get that bad that quickly.
"I showed him my purse and even my online banking to show there was nothing in it but he said we could go out and sleep under a bridge.
"He said that when we left the room he would throw our stuff out so I left my sons in there and I managed to get help from an Italian policewoman."
She said the officer told her to call the police if the hotel kicked them out and someone would come and collect them.
Tina added: "I even said 'if we go can I have a part of a refund so we can find somewhere else' but he said 'no'.
"I did offer about 10 times to pay when I got back to England.
"I just thought you can't do that.
"Especially in coronavirus times it is out of order.
"It was awful. It should not have happened."
The family ended up staying in the hotel for the rest of their trip after the travel firm they booked with stepped in to mediate.
Despite the incident, Tina said she would return to Palermo, on the island of Sicily.
"Just not to that hotel," she added.
About three million British nationals visit Italy every year, and most visits are trouble-free, according to the Foreign Office.
Italy is on the UK government's travel corridor list, meaning people arriving in England from that country do not have to self-isolate for 14 days.
It is likely to remain on the list for now as its current seven-day rate of coronavirus cases per 100,000 people is 10.8, up from 5.6.
A seven-day rate of 20 cases per 100,000 people is the threshold above which the UK Government considers triggering quarantine conditions.
Spain, France, the Netherlands and Croatia are among the countries recently removed from the list.
Switzerland and the Czech Republic could soon join them.
New figures show cases in the Czech Republic are rising and the seven-day rate of infections per 100,000 people is 19.4, just under the UK government's threshold.
Switzerland is over the threshold, with a seven-day rate of 21.2.
Last week, Scotland took Switzerland off its list of countries from which people do not need to self-isolate on arrival.
