A group of students from France were turned away from some homes after getting stranded in Snowdonia. Some residents in Llanberis turned the soaking wet group away because they thought they were acting out a Tiktok craze. But they were eventually taken in by a Good Samaritan who gave them a bed for the night.
The four had spent the evening knocking on doors looking for beds for the night, but, according to some reports, they claimed their B&B was doubled-booked and alternatives were either full or too expensive, NorthWalesLive reported. Rumours swept the village when the women, aged around 19 to21, began making late evening inquiries on the Maes Padarn housing estate.
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Warnings were posted on social media after older residents said they had been startled by “foreigners” knocking on their doors after 9pm. At least one reported her concerns to the police.
Tensions were raised further by suggestions of a link to a new TikTok trend in which people knock on random doors and ask for a sleepover. One person reported: “Something similar has happened in Llanllyfni... girls asking to stay in a small house.”
The French women eventually found a safe berth when they were taken in by retired care home worker Derek Roberts, 60. When he shared his story on Facebook, he was showered with praise and received multiple offers of help – and money.
He said: “I was Facetiming my cousin and happened to wander out the back door when I heard someone shouting,” he said. “The four women must have heard me talking on the phone and come in through the rear entrance.
“They told me they had been up Snowdon, hadn’t realised the time and had left it too late to book - all the B&Bs were full. They were cold and wet and asked me if they could have a room for the night. To be fair, their English was poor, so it was difficult to work out what they were saying.”
Derek worked out the women were students from France who were staying with a family in Liverpool in order to improve their English. “It was raining hard and they were soaking wet when they arrived at about 9.30pm,” said Derek. “I made them a cup of coffee and they went off to bed.”
As he lives alone, Derek has two spare bedrooms. The women preferred to stay together, so they dragged a single mattress into a double room, leaving one to sleep on the floor.
Derek believes a fear of strangers is understandable among older people living on their own – and especially in a village ill at ease with a controversial new hostel. “It’s for the homeless,” he said. “It’s caused a lot of commotion and made residents wary of people they don’t know.”
When Derek announced on Facebook he’d given the stranded women a room for the night, he was showered with praise. Describing him as “one of a kind” with a “heart of gold”, many villagers admitted they wouldn’t have done likewise.
“While many were turning them away, or closing a door in their faces, you were their Samaritan,” said one resident. “I would have been scared to let strangers come into my home, to be completely honest.”
Others agreed. “I have to admit, like a lot of other people, I would have turned them away,” said a woman. One “scared” resident even reported the group to the police. “They were looking through my front window,” she said.
As quick as people were to condemn, they were even quicker coming forward with offers of help. Derek reckons he received 200 private messages from local people, many containing offers of food, clothes and sanitary items for the four women.
One person even turned up at the house to hand over cash. “They told me to take the women out for breakfast,” said Derek. “But in the morning they declined the invitation and left after just a cup of coffee. They told me I had already done so much for them, that I should keep the money for myself.
“They were all very pleasant women who couldn't thank me enough. Later, they sent me a group photo taken at my house. Looking back now, it was a slightly surreal experience that came completely out of the blue.” To get more stories from across Wales straight to your inbox subscribe to our newsletters here.
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