Expert Travel Lawyers At Irwin Mitchell Instructed To Investigate Hygiene Standards

A newlywed couple have instructed expert travel illness lawyers at Irwin Mitchell to help investigate the issues they faced when their honeymoon was ‘ruined’, with one of them having to be placed on a drip because of the impact of their severe gastric symptoms.

Stacey Wilson, 24, her husband Marc Wilson, 28 and their daughter Ayvah Taylor-Bowes, 6, travelled to the Coral Sea Aqua Club in September 2015 to celebrate Marc and Stacey’s wedding, which was in August 2015.

However, a few days after the newlyweds arrived at the four and a half-star luxury resort booked through Thomson, Stacey began to suffer with diarrhoea, nausea and stomach cramps, followed by vomiting.

She could not go too far away from her hotel room due to her symptoms and was unable to make full use of the leisure facilities at the hotel.

Due to her symptoms persisting, she visited the hotel clinic where she was placed on an IV drip to rehydrate her, and she was also given antibiotics to help relieve the symptoms.

Stacey continues to suffer with symptoms over three months after her return home.

The couple, from South Shields, Tyne and Wear have now instructed expert travel illness lawyers at Irwin Mitchell to investigate their illness in the hope that they will get answers as to what caused Stacey to fall ill, and whether anything could have been done to prevent her from falling ill.

The law firm is currently representing a number of holidaymakers who suffered similar illness issues while staying at the Coral Sea Aqua Club in 2014.

Stacey and Marc told their legal team at Irwin Mitchell that the public toilets at the hotel were not always clean and that there was sometimes a smell of sewage around the pool area.

They also informed their legal team that some of the food served in the restaurant appeared, on occasions, to be re-used at meal times later in the day, new food was added to existing food that had been left out for service, and cutlery, crockery and the plates were sometimes dirty.

They noticed that the food in the restaurant was uncovered and that there were sometimes flies in the restaurant.

Jennifer Mullins, an expert travel illness lawyer from Irwin Mitchell, representing the family, said:

Expert Opinion

“The first-hand accounts of our clients’ complaints and the illness suffered by Stacey are extremely concerning. We are now commencing our own investigations into the problems that Stacey and her family faced and, we would therefore be keen to hear from anyone who may have further information about standards and hygiene levels at the resort.

“This is not the first time we have been contacted by holidaymakers who suffered gastric illness following their holidays to Egypt. We often hear of holidaymakers suffering with serious gastric illness after returning from this destination.

“It is important that Thomson, the company Stacey and Marc booked their holiday through, investigates the cause of this illness at the Coral Sea Aqua Club.

“Stacey and Marc booked this holiday to celebrate their wedding but they have understandably been left extremely frustrated and angry about their ordeal. Stacey spent over a week of the holiday suffering terrible gastric symptoms and was unable to enjoy what was supposed to be a celebration of their marriage.” Jennifer Hodgson - Senior Associate Solicitor

Stacey, a hairdresser, said: “This holiday should have been a time to celebrate our wedding with our daughter, but it was completely ruined by the illness that I suffered.

“I spent days staying close to my room due to the awful symptoms, which meant I couldn’t spend as much time as I would have liked to with my husband or daughter.

“We’ve been left devastated by this experience and it was the worst holiday that we have ever been on.

“Hopefully, by taking legal action we will get some answers about what happened and I hope that other people don’t have to go through what I went through. I am sad that my honeymoon was ruined and the awful memories will stay with us for life.”