Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Guests warned others to ‘stay away’ in months before tragic fire at Perth hotel

The New County Hotel in Perth was the scene of a tragic fire where three people lost their lives. Insert of Aberdeen sisters Donna Janse Van Rensburg, 44, and Sharon McLean, 47 who died at the hotel. Image: PA Wire/ DC Thomson/ Police Scotland.
The New County Hotel in Perth was the scene of a tragic fire where three people lost their lives. Insert of Aberdeen sisters Donna Janse Van Rensburg, 44, and Sharon McLean, 47 who died at the hotel. Image: PA Wire/ DC Thomson/ Police Scotland.

Damning comments on a social media site about a Perth hotel, where three people died, warned of a looming disaster.

Two sisters from Aberdeen and a “loving dad” from Edinburgh died in the Old County Hotel inferno in the early hours of Monday morning.

Described as “beautiful people” Donna Janse Van Rensburg, 44, and Sharon McLean, 47, both from Old Aberdeen, and Keith Russell, aged 38, originally from Edinburgh were found after the fire was extinguished.

Ms Janse Van Rensburg’s dog Joey – a three-year-old  King Charles spaniel – also perished in the blaze.

In the months before the fire on January 2, guests at the hotel warned others not to stay at the County Place budget hotel.

Shaun Sievwright who spent New Year with the Aberdeen sisters described them as “full of life”.

A police officer lays flowers at the New County Hotel, County Place, Perth. Image: Steve MacDougall / DC Thomson.

He said: ” I didn’t know the ladies previously,  just met them on New Years eve in Perth and spent into the early hours of the morning with them on Sunday at the club.

“They were so warm and friendly and a pleasure to have met and so full of life and happy.

“It is extremely sad and my thoughts are deeply with their family and friends and these were lives lost far too early.”

He was one of many to pay tribute to the women, while the family of Mr Russell said he would be sorely missed.

It is understood that the women were staying at the £25-per-night hotel over the New Year period.

An investigation by our sister newspaper The Courier has revealed that there were serious concerns raised about the hotel only three weeks before the deadly fire.

‘The best part of our stay was leaving’

Guests at the hotel spoke of exposed wires and threadbare carpets on Tripadvisor.

One customer Carly M, who stayed in December, graded the hotel as one star out of five – describing her experience as “terrible”.

She said: “Nope! Stay away ! Turn back and don’t even bother!

Message on the flowers from staff at the New County Hotel, County Place. Image: Steve MacDougall / DC Thomson.

“The stair carpet is threadbare, not sure when that poor excuse of a carpet took it last breath, but I’m more than sure it was circa 1970s if not earlier.

“On the way to our room we passed some sort of office, cupboard which had an open bag of rubbish just sitting at the entrance. Continued to our room along the dark corridor, swear we were in some type of Hammer Horror film, we have made it to our bedroom, safely thankfully.

“On crossing the threshold of our room we both just stood there, taking in sight before us. I honestly have never walked into a room in such a dire state than this one, it was freezing cold, window left open, parts of the window had been stained yellow from years of smoking, the bed base wasn’t even together, the pillow still had the indent of the last poor guests head in it.”

Another, Pam M, who was staying with family described it as “igloo central”.

She said: “Stayed at this hotel with my 10 year old granddaughter on December 10. We had a horrendous stay the hotel was dark and dingy and unwelcoming.

“The staff were unconcerned. There was no heating in the hotel despite being advertised we had to sleep in our outdoor clothes the wee one was frozen and her teeth were chattering.

“The best part of our stay was leaving.”

Adim from London said: “Overall, this is a one out of 10 hotel to stay at, I will not stay there again, but the only thing I can’t complain about is that it’s £25 a night, but to be honest I would rather you stayed in a tent.”

A review on Tripadvisor. Image: TripAdvisor.

Another woman, Nicole D, warned people to avoid the hotel, saying “needs shut down”.

After a stay in November, she wrote on Tripadvisor: “The hotel was what one could only describe as worn, tattered and in need of a thorough revamp.

“The staircase was narrow and steep (expected for an older hotel) but the carpets were lifting and handrails, doorways and walls are in desperate need of multiple coats of paint to hide the damp marks and dirt scuffed up them.

She added: “The plug socket seemed to hang from the wall, there was a terrible smell coming from the toilet and an array of stains on the roof of our room.”

Investigation is underway

At its height, more than 60 firefighters and nine fire appliances were mobilised to the scene after the alarm was raised at 5.02am.

Sharon McLean, Donna Janse Van Rensburg and Keith Russell. Image: Police Scotland.

Area commander Jason Sharp, the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service’s local senior officer for Dundee, Angus and Perth and Kinross, said: “We extend our deepest sympathies to all of those affected by this tragic event and our thoughts are with the friends and families of those who sadly passed away.

“This was an extremely serious incident and a joint investigation alongside Police Scotland is ongoing.

“It is important to allow the joint investigation to continue to establish the full facts and circumstances.”

Conversation