Moment holidaymakers wait for referee to blow whistle before battling each other in frantic race to claim sunbeds

HOLIDAYMAKERS wait for the blow of a referee’s whistle before battling each other in a frantic race to grab a sunbed.

Footage from the three-star Parasol Garden hotel in Torremolinos, near Málaga, Spain, shows scores of tourists waiting anxiously for the signal.

The early morning rush at this Costa del Sol hotel has taken the European summer sunbed wars to a whole new level.

Hilarious footage shows the holidaymakers poised and ready for the struggle - itching to bag the best spot.

And when hotel staff finally give the OK and blow the whistle, it’s every man, woman and child for themselves as they dash towards the prized plastic perches.

The lucky ones manage to secure a lounger and then drag the hefty piece of furniture to their favoured positions to soak up the rays.

One man is even seen lobbing his towel ahead of him in a bid to claim a prime poolside spot.

A lady is seen crest-fallen as she discovers she was too late to the party and walks away without a bed for the day.

It comes as The Sun detailed the civil war breaking out across the Med as sun-starved Brits battle each other for the best spots by pools and beaches.

British tourists in popular destinations such as Spain, the Balearic Islands and Turkey are going to extreme measures to bag the best sun loungers.

They include queuing from 5.30am to wait for pool areas to open hours later, and heading to beaches at the crack of dawn to reserve areas with towels.

Sun readers have even caught fellow countrymen and women claiming sun loungers at 11.30pm the night before to ensure they have a prime location to catch some rays.

However, residents of popular holiday islands in Greece are trying to initiate a crackdown on the sunbed wars.

The so-called "Towel Movement" campaign is demanding an end to the pandemonium and wants to "reclaim the beaches" from the loungers that plague them.

One holidaymaker is so concerned about the spiralling sunbed wars that she is packing her own lounger — in a suitcase.

Laura Jayne Lowe, 31, is heading to a hotel in the resort town of Torremolinos, Málaga, where fraught tourists have been queuing from 5.30am to claim a sunbed.

Meanwhile, proud sunbed hogger Mel Selton told The Sun exactly how she secures the best spots to top up her tan.

The 28-year-old hairdresser from Warrington, Cheshire, says she and her pals make sure they set their alarms early and dash down to the pool to state their claim - and don’t care if people call them selfish.

Last month, a British tourist recorded the hilarious moment revved up holidaymakers broke out of their gated pen and raced to bag the best sun lounger spot.

Other hotel guests filmed and gawked at the "unbelievable" sunbed war spectacle raging beneath them in Ayia Napa.

Have you witnessed any sunbed wars on your holiday this year? Tell us your story at: iona.cleave@the-sun.co.uk or worldnews@the-sun.co.uk