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A FATHER has been left horrified after he was accused of paedophilia when he checked into a hotel with his 13-year-old daughter.

Craig Darwell, 46, was treating his daughter Millie, 13, to a trip to an amusement park when he checked into the Travelodge hotel.

“We checked in and then I had to move my car,” Mr Darwell told The Sun.

“When I got back to reception the guy started asking me to prove I was her dad. He said it was company policy and I had to go on to Facebook to show messages I’ve sent to her.”

He continued: “It was bizarre and really offensive. Then he told me that he’d already called police so I had to wait for them to arrive.”

HE SAID IT RUINED HIS WEEKEND

The Travelodge Hotel, in Surrey in the UK, is situated right near Thorpe Park, the theme park the duo wanted to visit.

Craig, whose wife Sarah died from leukaemia when Millie was four, said: “This has never happened before.”

The devoted dad told The Sun it took about “two seconds” for them to realise the mistake “but it ruined the weekend for me.”

Local police in Surrey told the newspaper: “Police were called by a member of staff at the Travelodge in Chertsey on Thursday 30 March just after 8pm following a concern for safety.

“Officers attended and made no arrests, no further enquiries will take place.

“Hotels, taxi companies and other licensed premises have recently been equipped with the right knowledge to identify children who could be at risk of exploitation under Operation Makesafe.”

‘HE SHOULD BE GRATEFUL’

On social media, some people praised the response from the hotel.

One person wrote: “I understand the Dad’s upset but on the other hand if Travelodge did nothing they could have turned a blind eye to something more sinister. We do need to protect our vulnerable against those monsters out there but perhaps a different approach would have been better. It's a hard one. There was nothing to hide so he should, in essence, be grateful someone out there had his kid’s back.”

And another: “He should feel assured that if a daughter did get taken or groomed Travelodge could be the ones to stop anything before it happened.”

A spokesman for Travelodge told The Telegraph that while they apologised to Craig they take their “responsibilities towards protecting children and vulnerable young people extremely seriously.”

“Our colleagues are trained based on current national guidelines from the NSPCC, the police and other agencies and in the past, hotel team actions have led to successful intervention to protect young people.

“Clearly fine judgments have to be made and we deeply regret any distress or inconvenience caused to Mr Darwell on this occasion.

“We are undertaking a full investigation into the circumstances and will take careful note of any lessons learned in due course, including additional training where appropriate.”

This article originally appeared on Kidspot.