Mother sues over holiday ‘abduction’
● Inverness family claims holiday firm was at fault over Turkey trip scare
A Highlands mother who claims her five-year-old daughter was abducted from a holiday children’s club at a hotel in Turkey is suing travel firm Thomas Cook after being left ‘traumatised’ by the incident.
A single mother from Inverness will try to sue travel agents Thomas Cook after claiming her daughter was abducted from a hotel kids club at a resort in Turkey.
Janet Alexander was staying at the Royal Wings Hotel in Antalya in April when she took her daughter Lois, nine, to a scuba diving lesson, leaving youngest daughter Rose, five, at the supervised play area.
Ms Alexander said when she returned to the resort’s childcare facility, the youngster was missing and claimed hotel staff were none the wiser as to where she had gone.
A frantic search was undertaken to find Rose. The girl was later discovered walking with a woman near the main road outside the resort, with the two brought back to the resort by a guest.
Rose is thought to have left with the woman after allegedly being invited to “go for a walk”. The woman was never arrested and later left the scene.
Ms Alexander said she has not been able to return to work due to post-traumatic stress following the incident.
In a statement released by lawyers Digby Brown, she said: “This has been the most traumatic experience of my life. I thought my daughter was either dead or faced being trafficked and abused.
“People need to realise these staff-led play groups aren’t the safe places we believe them to be. I’ll never trust Thomas Cook again.”
Simon Richards, from lawyers Digby Brown, said: “Janet and her loved ones understandably feel traumatised by this incident. Thankfully Rose was safely reunited with her family, but her abduction had a very serious and lasting detrimental impact.
“The Royal Wings Hotel breached its contractual duties by failing to look after children in its play area, but Thomas Cook are ultimately responsible as it is the company who sold the holiday.”
A Thomas Cook spokesperson said: “We were very concerned to hear of this incident and we understand how distressing it must have been.
“We are investigating thoroughly with the hotel to understand what happened and we will work with the hotel to make any required changes so that this can’t happen again.”