Child Seen By Doctor After Problems At Family Life Flamingo Beach Resort

A family were left distraught when their 17-month-old child developed a gastric illness during a stay at a Lanzarote holiday resort last month have instructed legal experts to investigate the ‘nightmare’ they faced.

Scott Gibbon, 34, from Bury, has revealed how he and his daughter Lily-Mae fell ill during their week-long break at the Family Life Flamingo Beach Resort in Playa Blanca at the end of September, which was booked through TUI UK Limited trading as Thomson.

As well as suffering diarrhoea and vomiting, Lily-Mae also developed a rash on her body and the severity of her symptoms led Scott and his partner Katie Cummins, 32, to seek treatment from an emergency doctor to check on her.

Now, following their return to the UK and with the symptoms still affecting them, the family have called on Irwin Mitchell’s specialist International Personal Injury team to help them gain answers regarding the problems that they endured.

Clare Pearson, the legal expert at Irwin Mitchell who is representing the family, said: 

Expert Opinion

“We are very concerned by the illness the family experienced and, following our instruction, have started to make our own inquiries into what our clients faced. We have also been contacted by another family who also suffered illness whilst staying at this hotel this summer.

“The seriousness of gastric illness should never be underestimated, particularly in a case where a young child has suffered severe symptoms. It is sadly not uncommon to see victims of such problems develop long-term health problems which, in some cases, they never fully recover from.

“We are determined to help our clients gain the answers they are seeking and, as part of our work, would be keen to hear from anyone else who may have suffered similar issues at this resort who could help with our investigation.” Clare Pearson - Legal Executive & Associate

Scott Gibbon’s stay at the Family Life Flamingo Beach Resort with Lily-Mae and Katie began on September 26th, but by September 30th he and Lily-Mae had both started to feel unwell.

The self-employed window cleaner outlined: “We had been really looking forward to this holiday, so I was really frustrated when I fell ill. However, things seemed much worse for Lily-Mae and all I could focus on was trying to make sure she got better. This was her first holiday abroad and we are devastated that she ended up really unwell after we had been so excited about the holiday.

“The diarrhoea and vomiting hit her really badly and then when she developed a rash we feared the worst. While calling out an emergency doctor proved expensive, we felt it was the only option we had to ensure that Lily-Mae was going to be OK. It was an absolute nightmare.”

Now back in the UK, Scott and Lily-Mae are both continuing to suffer with their symptoms and the family is determined to gain answers regarding what happened.

Scott said: “We were not impressed by the overall quality of the food we got while we were out there, but never for a second thought that we could be at risk of any illness. It is just devastating that our special time abroad together led to this and we feel we deserve some explanation regarding what has happened.”

Read more about Irwin Mitchell's expertise in holiday illness claims.