Public Health England Launches Investigation Following Water Park Outbreak

A father from Lenton in Nottingham has instructed specialist Public Health lawyers at Irwin Mitchell to investigate after he and his young son fell ill with gastric illness symptoms following a visit to a theme park in Leicestershire.

Natan Khareghat visited Twinlakes Family Theme Park in Melton Mowbray with his wife and son Leo on 18 July.  Both Natan and Leo, who is just three-years-old, then began suffering from vomiting, diarrhoea and severe stomach pains.

Many other visitors have also reported falling ill, including children on a school trip and others who were visiting with a youth club.

The Au Guang Dragon Zone Water Park area of Twinlakes has been closed since the weekend.  Public Health England (PHE) East Midlands said that samples from the area confirmed an outbreak of norovirus.

Expert Opinion

“It’s deeply concerning to hear that Natan and Leo became very unwell after a visit to Twinlakes, and there are now reports of a potential norovirus outbreak at the park. We would be interested to hear from anyone else who visited Twinlakes at this time who also experienced gastric symptoms to assist us with our investigation.

Whilst the cause of the outbreak, and the steps taken by the park to contain the illness, is unclear at this stage, it is imperative that lessons are learned from this incident to mitigate against something like this from happening again.

Through our work, we often see the effects that gastric illnesses have on people, particularly in those who are more vulnerable to illnesses such as children, and norovirus is very unpleasant.

Public Health England has worked quickly to determine that there was norovirus present at the park, and we are now awaiting results of further tests.”
Amandeep Dhillon - Partner

The Public Health Team at national firm, Irwin Mitchell, have vast experience of handling illness outbreak cases arising from incidents in the UK including holiday resorts, restaurants and public establishments in the UK, such as successfully representing almost 30 people who contracted Salmonella from contaminated food from the Real China restaurant in Southampton, and successfully representing almost 300 diners who fell ill after visiting the Toby Carvery Exeter Arms in Exeter in 2015.

Natan, a Housing Association Officer, told his legal team at Irwin Mitchell that he took two days off work sick and then had to take holidays to look after Leo who was too unwell to go to nursery.

Natan said: “The past week has been awful.  It was bad enough that I was sick, but to see Leo so unwell was heartbreaking.

“Since our visit to Twinlakes, I have heard there are many other people complaining of similar symptoms.  To now be told that there is norovirus present is very distressing, but it would explain why we were both feeling so ill.

 “It is frustrating that I had to take time off work due to something which was not my fault, and I hope that appropriate measures are taken so this doesn’t happen again.”

Find out more about Irwin Mitchell's expertise in handling public health cases