EXPOSED Holiday bug compensation cowboys

New claims industry that’s forcing up cost of YOUR sunshine break

COWBOY firms are coaching British tourists to lie about holiday sickness to win compensation.

Experts warn that it is costing the industry millions and will force the cost of package holidays to rise.

Dubious firms acting for ambulance-chasing lawyers lure tourists with promises of £5,000 payouts and urge them to concoct stories of food poisoning at all-inclusive hotels.

An MoS reporter posing as a holidaymaker was told by UK-based claims firms to: Get a GP’s note to triple a payout; Pretend he had reported his ‘illness’ to hotel staff;

Falsely claim his food was not heated properly;

Exaggerate the length of his illness.

Claims firms targeting tourists are paid a monthly retainer to bring clients to lawyers, who take their cut from any compensation.

Last year, one tour operator received 15 claims for holiday sickness for the whole of Spain. But this year, one hotel has already been hit by almost 200 cases.

Tour operators generally settle to avoid court battles, despite suspecting that many claims are fake or exaggerated.

Astonishingly, one British firm uses an ambulance emblazoned with the words Claims Clinic to cruise around Tenerife touting for business. Although there is no evidence to suggest the firm has encouraged false claims, its aggressive tactics have infuriated hoteliers.

The shaven-headed man behind the stunt, Nick Holland, said he has processed more than 150 claims since July, but insisted: ‘We’re completely above board. There are more claims because there’s more awareness.’

Colchester-based Claim 4 Holiday Illness call themselves ‘no win, no fee specialists’.

Our reporter told the call handler, Karen, he had returned from an allinclusive holiday to Tenerife where he fell ill. But he said he had nothing to support a possible claim. He was told to insist that he had mentioned ‘in passing’ that he was ill to a hotel receptionist.

When the reporter said he had eaten outside the hotel, he was told not to disclose this.

He was told to lie yet again when he reported he had been ill for only two days. For a claim to be successful, a claimant must have been ill for at least three days. Karen suggested he pretend it was seven days.

Without prompting, she then said she was going to write on the claim form that the hotel food was always warm rather than hot, implying it was being reheated.

Claim 4 Holiday Illness is the trading name of claims management company Gold Hill Ltd. Boss Ken Hilliard said: ‘I need to investigate this as a matter of some urgency... it is not the standard these people are trained to be at.’

Our reporter repeated his story to Holiday Sickness Specialists. Again, he was urged to conceal that he had eaten outside the hotel and pretend that he had told a receptionist he was sick.

He was also told by call handler James Kane to see his GP, despite having recovered. A doctor’s note, he explained, would raise his compensation to up to £5,000.

To boost his payout further, he was advised to falsely claim his wife and children had fallen ill too. Kane told our reporter that his claim would be handled by Macclesfield-based Amanda Cunliffe Solicitors. A spokesman there said: ‘We take a dim view of insurance fraud.’

Speaking outside his Liverpool home, Kane said: ‘I may have given advice but I don’t tell anyone to lie. I’m not encouraging fraud.’

The Ministry of Justice said: ‘It is important that the system is not open to abuse. We have tough sanctions for firms that break the rules.’

James Dalton, of the Association of British Insurers, said: ‘Claims cowboys are moving from cars to holidays – and it’s honest customers that could pay the price.’

In Tenerife, Jorge Marichal, president of the island’s hoteliers’ association, likened it to ‘organised crime’.

‘We are completely above board’