QUEASY MONEY
83 Brit tourists suing TUI over Spanish resort food poisoning in £232k payout
BRIT tourists suing TUI over food poisoning on a “nightmare” allinclusive holiday at a four-star Spanish resort have been handed a total of £232,000 in compensation.
The 83 holidaymakers – many of them families – all claimed to have fallen ill due to the food while staying at the Holiday Village resort, on Canary Island Lanzarote, in the summer of 2019.
Guests complained of poor hygiene standards at the hotel, with animals and insects reportedly spotted roaming in eating areas, undercooked food, maggots in milk and “faecal incidents” in the pool.
In claim documents, their barrister Charles Crow said that, because the holidays were allinclusive, most of the tourists had only eaten and drunk at the hotel. Darren Evans, 36, of Dukinfield, Cheshire, said he fell ill on the second day of his trip, quickly followed by his 17-month old and six-year-old children, and had to see a GP when he got home.
“It was bad enough that
I was unwell, but to see our children suffer was awful,” he said. “I wasn’t able to eat for four days.” TUI have denied liability – or even that the tourists had food poisoning – but agreed to settle the bulk of the claims, judge Master John Dagnall, was told during a High Court hearing. They also face six outstanding and more serious claims – totalling another £400,000 – to be ruled on next year. The firm’s barrister Samuel McNeil said the tourists should prove that they fell ill and that it was caused by bacterial infection at the hotel. He said: “Gastric illness is a common feature of overseas travel. Other guests travelled with various operators from around the world, potentially bringing viral illnesses “Guests may have eaten outside.”