Recreativos Horadada, the company that has provided umbrella’s and sunbeds to Torrevieja’s beaches for the last six years, has said that it’s contract ran out last September and now, it is too late to process any new agreement in time for Easter.

As such, it now seems unlikely that the most popular of all services requested by visitors and tourists, the sun bed, the umbrella, beach inflatables and the jet ski are unlikely to be available to holidaymakers. Fortunately the Chiringuito and lifeguard services are provided by different contracts to it is thought that they will be offered as normal.

The Councillor of Beaches, Javier Manzanares (PSOE), was certainly aware that the concession would come to an end last summer but, to date, there has been no tender request offered to the contracting party, the document that usually states the terms and requirements of any future service.

It is not clear what has caused the administrative problem that has now created a delay of more than six months and sources now suggest that because of the cumbersome administrative process, neither is it guaranteed that any new concession will be put in place in time for the high season from June to September, a period when Torrevieja welcomes more than 350,000 tourists to the town whose main attraction is to enjoy their leisure days on the award winning local beaches.

What makes the council failure to secure a new contract even more disappointing is that they do not pay for this service. It is the reverse. It is the contractor who pays a fee to the Ayuntamiento for the privilege of being able to carry it out.