Holidaymakers Win Over £2.5m in Food Poisoning Pay Out

Posted on Jul 02, 2009 
 

More than 500 British holidaymakers have won more than £2.5m in compensation after their holidays were wrecked by food poisoning at a Dominican hotel resort. 
 
The British tourists were affected by an outbreak of illnesses, including E coli, shigella, giardia and salmonella, between January and August 2007 at the Bahia Principe San Juan all-inclusive resort in the Dominican Republic.  
 
More than 1,000 holidaymakers were struck down in the 2007 outbreak and dozens of them needed hospital treatment. The Irwin Mitchell legal firm alleged that the holiday companies concerned (mainly Thomas Cook and First Choice) had shown a "flagrant disregard" for the health of their customers by continuing to fly people out to this resort during the time of the outbreak of illnesses linked to contaminated food and water.  
 
The legal firm has settled 514 claims with Thomas Cook and is also acting for other clients at the moment who used either Thomas Cook or First Choice. The successful group of claimants included 29 people who were hospitalised and many who will suffer long-term health problems as a result of their illness.  
 
At the time of the outbreak, some guests returning to Manchester Airport needed medical treatment on landing, before they could even get off the plane, and one plane was quarantined at Gatwick.  
 
Clive Garner, from Irwin Mitchell said: "It beggars belief to think that so many people can fall ill at one hotel without the issue being resolved, and it's a shocking example of how not to treat your customers."  
 
Thomas Cook said of the case: "We take all reports of illness very seriously and we were very concerned by the outbreak of sickness that took place at the Bahia Principe in 2007. We are pleased that the majority of legal cases have now been settled and we want to be able to reassure all our customers that we work with our hotel partners to continually monitor the hygiene standards in their properties."  
 
First Choice, who are facing compensation claims, said that they were "genuinely concerned to hear of any illnesses reported in our properties", but could not comment further "so as to ensure that we do not unduly interfere or influence any future legal proceedings".