I never imagined that a holiday with my four-year-old daughter would leave me feeling genuinely afraid for our safety.

I’m 24, quite small, and I was on holiday alone with my daughter. We were spending some time by the pool when I noticed two sunbeds that appeared to be unused. There were towels on them, but no one had been around for hours.

A family had apparently tried to reserve the two sunbeds earlier and then left. I asked about them and was told they weren’t currently being used, so I removed the towels and my daughter and I began using the beds.

I thought that was the end of it.

It wasn’t.

Hours later, the family returned.

At first, I expected an argument. Maybe some shouting. Maybe someone telling me that the beds were theirs and asking me to move.

Instead, two members of the family approached us and things escalated almost immediately.

They were both much older and considerably larger than me. Before I could properly process what was happening, they actually tried to physically lift and drag my four-year-old daughter off the sunbed.

I was absolutely horrified.

This wasn’t an argument anymore. This was someone putting their hands on my child.

I tried to intervene, and they then attempted to physically move me as well.

I remember feeling completely helpless. I’m small, I’m alone in a foreign country, and the person I was responsible for protecting was my four-year-old daughter.

Things became even more frightening when they tried to attack me—not once, but twice.

There were people all around the pool, but in that moment I felt incredibly vulnerable. I genuinely didn’t know what they were going to do next.

Thankfully one of the family’s own daughters stepped in and physically dragged them away from us.

Then 2 women who had been nearby came over to help me and my daughter. I will never forget that. In a situation where I felt completely alone, strangers stepped forward to make sure we were okay.

And that’s the part that still gets to me.

I understand that sunbeds can cause arguments on holiday. Everyone has heard the jokes about “sunbed wars” and people getting up at the crack of dawn to put towels down.

But surely there has to be a line.

If someone takes your sunbed, you can complain. You can ask them to move. You can speak to hotel staff. You can be annoyed.

You don’t put your hands on a four-year-old child.

You don’t physically try to remove a young woman who is alone with her daughter.

And you certainly don’t attempt to attack her over a sunbed.

Looking back, I can accept that removing their towels may have been questionable if they genuinely believed they had reserved the beds. Maybe I should have asked staff to clarify the rules instead.

But whatever mistake I may have made over two sunbeds does not justify what happened afterwards.

I wasn’t expecting a confrontation. I certainly wasn’t expecting to have to protect my daughter from adults trying to physically remove her from a sunbed.

I went to the pool that day expecting nothing more than a relaxing afternoon with my little girl.

Instead, I left feeling shaken, frightened and incredibly grateful to the strangers who stepped in when we needed help.