Bricklayer Still Suffering Symptoms Following Return To UK

A bricklayer from Sheffield, whose family holiday to Greece was “ruined” after he became ill with severe gastric symptoms, has called on specialist lawyers to help him gain answers regarding his experience.

James Storey, (32) travelled to the Holiday Village Atlantica Kos in Marmari with his wife and one-year-old daughter Elena on 29 June, which was booked through TUI UK Limited trading as First Choice. He began to feel unwell on 4 July with diarrhoea, sickness and stomach cramps. He also felt weak and groggy.

Elena also fell ill with similar symptoms and both consulted the doctor in the resort who prescribed tablets for James while Elena was given sachets to help ease their horrible symptoms.

Sadly James’ symptoms persisted until the family returned home on 13 July, and he is still suffering from the effects more than two weeks on.

The family has now instructed specialist holiday illness lawyers at Irwin Mitchell to investigate whether more could have been done to prevent them becoming ill.

Nadhia Akthar, an expert holiday illness lawyer at Irwin Mitchell, said: “It’s deeply concerning to hear what James suffered while on holiday with his family.

“Through our work, we often see people who have not been able to enjoy their Summer break due to illness, and we are determined to find out whether more could have been done to prevent James and Elena getting ill.

If you also travelled to this hotel and think you can assist us with our ongoing enquiries we would like to hear from you with your accounts of the events you experienced.

James and his family booked their all-inclusive holiday through tour operator TUI UK Limited trading as First Choice, and he was devastated when he began to feel unwell less than halfway through the break.

He recalled: “We were all looking forward to our holiday and had been saving up for a long time for it, but the whole experience was completely ruined when I fell ill.

“It was bad enough that I was sick, but it was devastating to see Elena go through it too.

“Our holiday was all-inclusive so we only ate and drank at the resort, and there were a few things I was concerned about.  Some of the food was not served piping hot and on at least one occasion the chicken was undercooked.  I did complain to the chef about it, but he told me that was how it was cooked.

“Some food also appeared to be re-served, and on occasions new food items were mixed with old.

“The ham and cheese didn’t appear to be covered and flies would be landing on it, and there were also feral cats roaming around the hotel grounds.

“I’m not normally one to complain, but I found it impossible to enjoy the rest of my holiday once I became unwell.  I had to visit the resort doctor and he had mentioned that he had treated other people that had been struck down with illness.

“To make matters worse, I am still feeling the effects of the gastric illness now and would like answers as to how this happened and if anything could have been done to prevent it to save others suffering a similar experience.