Irwin Mitchell Investigated Illness Outbreak At Los Gigantes Hotel

Specialist International Personal Injury lawyers at Irwin Mitchell have secured undisclosed settlements from tour operator TUI UK Ltd, trading as Thomson Holidays Limited, for over 40 holidaymakers who were hoping for a relaxing break in Tenerife, however instead their holidays were ruined by an outbreak of gastric illness.

Amongst the group were John Fulstow, aged 74, and his wife from Weston-Super-Mare, who travelled to the Los Gigantes Hotel in January 2011 for a relaxing break in the sun, but during their holiday fell ill with gastric symptoms.

Both John and his wife were struck down with gastric illness and suffered from diarrhoea, vomiting and stomach cramps, which left them confined to their hotel room. Their symptoms unfortunately continued upon their return to the UK.

The group of over 40 holidaymakers instructed specialist International Personal Injury lawyers at Irwin Mitchell to investigate the gastric illness suffered at the Los Gigantes Hotel, for which TUI UK Ltd were the tour operator. Despite the tour operator having denied liability throughout, Irwin Mitchell has now secured settlements for each of their clients.

Amandeep Dhillon, a Partner and specialist International Personal Injury lawyer at Irwin Mitchell, said: 

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“Many of the guests we represented suffered symptoms including stomach cramps, diarrhoea, vomiting and lethargy. These symptoms can be serious and some of our clients sadly continue to suffer with problems to this day.

“We are disappointed that TUI UK Ltd denied responsibility throughout the legal proceedings, which led to a lengthy wait for all of our clients to find the answers they deserved regarding the cause of the outbreak of illness at the hotel. It is also concerning that we have acted for further clients following outbreaks of illness at this hotel in subsequent years.

“Our clients are now understandably relieved to have received a settlement from the tour operator. For those amongst the group who suffered illness, compensation was recovered for the pain, suffering and related losses they endured. For those holidaymakers who thankfully did not suffer illness, but whose holidays were affected when their friend or family member with whom they travelled did, compensation was secured for their loss of enjoyment and related losses. Now that settlement has been reached, we hope that our clients can now start to move on with their lives and put this experience behind them.

“We hope that this case acts as a reminder to all tour operators of the importance of keeping their holidaymakers safe and ensuring that appropriate health and hygiene standards are met.” Amandeep Dhillon - Partner

John, who is retired, said: “We travelled to Tenerife hoping for a relaxing holiday in the sun and to spend some quality time together. I had booked the holiday as a surprise Christmas present for my wife; however we were both struck down with gastric illness which completely ruined our experience.

“I was appalled by the overall cleanliness of the hotel – when we arrived at the hotel, we were taken to our hotel room where there was a distinct foul damp-like smell in the bathroom. The décor was dated and my general impression of the hotel was that it was grubby. We heard of numerous other guests at the hotel who had also fallen ill during our stay.

“Before we became ill we ate in the hotel restaurant, however we were disappointed with the food which was often lukewarm. The hotel had provided microwaves in the restaurant which we used to re-heat our food from the buffet because we felt that it was not hot enough to eat. I noticed that some of the meat was pink in the middle and so I avoided eating this.

“We are bitterly disappointed that TUI UK Ltd prolonged the legal process and did not apologise, or at least acknowledge the issues at the hotel. We would like to thank our legal team at Irwin Mitchell for their support and now we will look to put this ordeal behind us.

“I will not be using Thomson Holidays again. I am pleased that it has now come to a close and we can start to move forward from this.”