HOLIDAY FROM HELL
FAMILY’S DREAM TRIP RUINED BY HURRICANE IRMA...
A COVENTRY family have won compensation after enduring “the worst and most traumatic holiday” of their lives as Hurricane Irma raged through the Caribbean.
Wesley Sheriff, 38, and his wife Vanessa wanted to take their daughter Sienna, 10, and eight-year-old son Braydon on a dream holiday to the Dominican Republic.
But the family, from Potters Green, say it turned into the holiday from hell as Hurricane Irma – the most powerful Atlantic storm ever recorded – threatened to hit. They say their holiday operator Thomas Cook failed to respond to messages they were in distress and had been confined to their hotel room with minimal food and the hotel restaurants closed.
Wesley said: “Moving furniture away from the win- dows, making sure nothing was on the floor in case of flooding, and putting two young children to bed in the far corner of the room with all this chaos led to terrified children.
“Fortunately during the night the Hurricane moved slightly north so the Dominican was thankfully not hit as hard as many other islands in the Caribbean.”
The family fought for compensation at Coventry Combined Court and were awarded £200 on August 2.
‘Panic set in’ The family had booked to stay at the Luxury Bahia Principe Fantasia hotel from August 24 to September 10 last year. Mr Sheriff said: “Unfortunately this turned into a nightmare holiday which has only just concluded.” The hotel restaurants were closed and they were confined to their room with warnings the hurricane was approaching. “At this point the panic really started to set in but we heard that extra provisions would be provided to our rooms to sustain us during the 18 hours we were to be without restaurants and confined to our rooms,” he added.
“Unfortunately when those provisions were delivered they came in the form of a bombshell. Cheese, ham sandwiches, yogurts and fruit that had all been sat out in the sun.”
Mr Sheriff said he then tried to contact Thomas Cook, which he described as “near impossible”.
“When you book a holiday you often chose one of the big tour operators solely in case something catastrophic like this happens believing you would have the help and support needed at such a traumatic time,” he added.
“At this time you would also expect a 5 star luxury resort with almost a weeks’ notice of the impending hurricane to make sufficient plans to provide for the hundreds of guests still in resort.
“Unfortunately that wasn’t the case. Trying to contact Thomas Cook at this time was near impossible; calls were unanswered, messages were ignored.”
Apology The problems continued for the family, with flight delays due to the hurricane and “failures in communication by Thomas Cook”.
Despite turning up early to catch their coach after their second delayed flight, the family said they had to wait 45 minutes and described it as “a transfer from hell” as it had broken seatbelts and no air-conditioning.
A Thomas Cook spokesman apologised to the family, who had earlier turned down compensation from the company. They said: “We are sorry that the Sheriff family were not able to enjoy their holiday as planned due to Hurricane Irma.
“Our first priority was to keep them safe until the hurricane had passed through the Dominican Republic and we could get them home.
“We are disappointed the family chose not to accept our offer of compensation following their experience.”
Trying to contact Thomas Cook at this time was near impossible, calls were unanswered, messages were ignored. Wesley Sheriff