Travel Law Experts Urge An Investigation

A holidaymaker from Sutton Coldfield has spoken of how her holiday in Egypt was ruined by illness.

Solicitors from Irwin Mitchell’s travel law team are representing Doreen Wagstaff in a claim against tour operator Saga Holidays. The firm has called on Saga to investigate the incident at the Fort Arabesque Hotel in Makadi Bay, Egypt, and to ensure improvements are made to food hygiene.

Doreen Wagstaff suffered severe gastric illness while on a month long stay at the four star hotel. What should have been a relaxing break for the former social worker was ruined when she was struck down with severe diarrhoea and sickness, which caused her to lose more than a stone and a half in weight.

Doreen believes that her illness was caused by poor hygiene in the hotel’s restaurants, where she reports seeing leftovers being served again at a later sitting and food never being hot enough.

She said: “This was meant to be an idyllic, relaxing holiday but ended up as a living nightmare. The last 2 weeks of my holiday were completely ruined as I could not leave my hotel room and I lost a stone and a half in weight.

“Since returning home I still feel very ill. I can hardly believe that my dream holiday turned into such a nightmare. I just hope Saga will now have the decency to admit that they badly let me down and either improve the conditions at this hotel or alternatively stop sending British holidaymakers there.”

Elizabeth Tetzner, a travel law expert from Irwin Mitchell who is representing Doreen said: “Ms Wagstaff is very upset by what happened. She was hospitalised abroad and being a single traveller with no family around her this was extremely distressing.

“Holiday companies have a responsibility to ensure that the hotels they send their customers to are safe and comply with health and safety regulations, which are in place to protect their guests.

“It is essential that a full investigation was carried out and lessons are learnt to ensure that food hygiene is improved to avoid other tourists suffering in the future. We also hope that Saga will quickly admit liability for these failings so that the case can quickly be settled and Doreen can try to put this awful ordeal behind her."