First Choice Criticised Over ‘Ludicrous’ Delays In Major Holiday Illness Case
Published date:
08 Feb 2011
‘Face your responsibilities’, leading lawyer tells operator
A leading travel lawyer has urged First Choice to ‘face up to its responsibilities’ and help over 400 British tourists who were left seriously ill after staying at one of its hotels.
It is now over a year since another tour operator agreed a payout of almost £3.5m for the same outbreak but First Choice are still refusing to accept liability – and two friends, who are still suffering the aftermath of their nightmare holiday, are to be the focus of the BBC documentary, ‘Save My Holiday’, which aims to help victims of holidays from hell.
The holidaymakers were left devastated after their dream trips to the four-star Bahia Principe resort in the Dominican Republic, including weddings, honeymoons, anniversaries and birthdays, were ruined by outbreaks of serious illnesses including Salmonella, Shigella and Campylobacter.
All 408 tourists travelled to the all-inclusive resort with tour operator First Choice between May and August 2007, at the height of an outbreak at the Caribbean site which saw fleets of ambulances ferrying guests to hospital, and they are taking legal action with travel law experts Irwin Mitchell.
But the UK holiday giant is still denying liability for the problems its customers faced at the Bahia Principe - almost four years after the outbreak began and over 12 months after Irwin Mitchell reached a settlement of close to £3.5m, one of the largest payouts of its kind, with rival tour firms Thomas Cook and subsidiary My Travel for 500 tourists who fell ill at the same hotel at the same time.
Lawyers from Irwin Mitchell issued formal court proceedings in December 2009 on behalf of the 408 holidaymakers who travelled with First Choice. Clive Garner, Head of Travel Law at Irwin Mitchell, described the tour firm’s refusal to accept they were at fault as ‘utterly ludicrous’ and urged them to play fair by their customers.
He said: “The huge catalogue of complaints our clients have encountered shows just how appalling the conditions were.
“That was why Thomas Cook and My Travel, to their credit, held up their hands quickly, admitted they were in the wrong, and worked with us to agree the right level of compensation for each of our clients – allowing their customers to move on with their lives.
“It’s nothing short of ludicrous for First Choice to continue to deny it was at fault. Its customers were there at the same hotel at the same time suffering from the same illnesses. At the very least they deserve the same treatment as Thomas Cook has afforded its customers.”
Guests claimed the hotel was dirty, unhygienic and that food did not appear to have been properly cooked and was left uncovered. Birds and mice were frequently seen in the dining area and several guests reported faecal contamination of the swimming pool, which was simply skimmed out by staff with nets.
Among those affected were friends Sharon Brotherton and Stephanie Hughes, both of County Durham, who visited the hotel in June 2007 to celebrate Sharon’s 40th birthday.
Stephanie said: “What was supposed to be a memorable holiday to celebrate Sharon’s birthday will certainly be one that neither of us will forget, but for all the wrong reasons – it turned into a complete nightmare. Rather than enjoying the sun we were confined to our room for most of the holiday with fever, diarrhoea and sickness, I couldn’t wait to come home.
Sharon added: “The conditions at the hotel were absolutely appalling, it was no wonder so many people fell ill. The buffet area was dirty and unhygienic, food was served at incorrect temperatures and Stephanie even saw bugs in some of the dishes.
“We thought that by arranging our holiday through a company as large and as well-known as First Choice we would be booking a quality break at a hotel which at the very least would be clean, well maintained and with helpful staff but unfortunately it was the complete opposite.”
Although Sharon’s acute symptoms settled in November 2007, and Stephanie’s in July 2007, both still suffer from disruptive bowel habits and abdominal discomfort – Stephanie was diagnosed with Irritable Bowel Syndrome less than six months after returning home.
The problems at the Bahia Principe Hotel began in early 2007 and persisted throughout most of the year as more guests continued to arrive from the UK. In August 2007 the Dominican Republic Minister for Public Health, Bautista Rojas, confirmed that tourists had become ill due to contaminated foodstuffs at the hotel.
As the problems mounted and more UK travellers fell ill, one plane flying back from the Dominican Republic was quarantined at Gatwick while another landing at the same airport was boarded by doctors. Other Bahia Principe guests landing at Manchester needed treatment from doctors on the plane before they could disembark.
In total, more than 1,000 British tourists were struck down by serious illness at the resort during 2007 with many tourists describing the hotel as being like a casualty ward, with fleets of ambulances ferrying poorly guests to hospital day after day. At the time, Irwin Mitchell urged tour operators to stop sending holidaymakers to the hotel as the problem escalated.
Clive Garner added: “Despite similar problems having been reported at the hotel on and off for the previous ten years, First Choice continued to direct their customers to the resort throughout the 2007 epidemic. Meanwhile, when at the hotel, guests who became ill typically received little or no help from their holiday reps.
“It’s hugely disappointing that First Choice is still failing to recognise its responsibility in this case. These people deserve to receive fair compensation for their illnesses and for the shocking service they received. Worse still, many of them continue to suffer illness to this day.”
The problems at the Bahia Principe in 2007 followed a series of outbreaks of illness at the hotel in previous years. Irwin Mitchell successfully negotiated substantial compensation packages for more than 100 guests who fell ill there in 1997 and the firm has also acted for clients who became ill during stays at the hotel in 2004, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009 and 2010.
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