German lawyer sides with Britons in timeless row over sun loungers

A lawyer in Cologne has sprung to the defence of British holidaymakers fed up with Germans using towels to bag all the best sun loungers at European resorts. "A British tourist would be quite within their legal rights to ignore the reservation implied by the towels if there is nobody there," Ralf Hocker, 34, told Monday's The Guardian newspaper. In a book titled "The New Dictionary of Popular Legal Errors" -- based on a study of laws in Spain and Germany -- Hocker also says that bar-goers who leave coats on chairs, and pedestrians who try to claim parking spots for yet-to-arrive cars, are also on shaky legal ground. "The towel things is not such a big deal in Germany, but I have to say that the stereotype is true -- German people do reserve all the loungers," Hocker said, upholding a timeless bit of British holiday folklore. "It's also worth saying that it also infuriates some German people." ...via