Now second hotel guest dies after being sent 450 miles home in taxi
OAP ‘was struck down by bug’
A SECOND pensioner died after being sent on a long-distance journey home from a hotel where she fell ill.
It has been claimed holidaymaker Carol Whymark, 70, was sent 450 miles to her home to England from Loch Achray Hotel in Callander, Perthshire.
She fell ill at the hotel with suspected norovirus and died in hospital near her home in to Stanton, Suffolk, the next day.
Her death came only three weeks after the same hotel organised for 79-year-old Norma Francis to take a 350-mile taxi journey to her home in Gnosall, Stafford, after she showed symptoms of gastric illness.
She fell unconscious during the trip and died in hospital that night.
Lawyers are now investigating both women’s stays, which were booked through Lochs and Glens Holidays. Other guests who may have had similar experiences have been asked to come forward.
On April 28, Mrs Whymark awoke feeling unwell and wanted to stay in the hotel, her daughter Sharone Whymark has claimed.
But hotel staff are alleged to have told her husband, Desmond, 73, that his wife had norovirus and offered him rubber gloves to clean the room, leaving food and water outside.
The family claim the hotel then offered to pay for a taxi to take her home, without providing appropriate medical advice. When they arrived home in Stanton, after a seven-and-a-half hour journey, Miss Whymark immediately called an ambulance but her mother died of a heart attack at West Suffolk Hospital the next day.
A post-mortem examination revealed she did not have norovirus in her system when she died.
Miss Whymark, 47, said: ‘I just think it is terrible that this could have happened once, let alone twice. It’s disgusting.’ Mrs Francis was on a coach break in the Trossachs with her husband, John, 81, when she started to feel increasingly unwell two days into her stay.
Despite Mr Francis’s concern for his wife’s health, staff at the hotel arranged for the couple to be driven home to Gnosall – a taxi journey that lasted almost six hours.
On arrival, the mother of two could not be roused from her sleep and an ambulance was called. Paramedics immediately began CPR but Mrs Francis never regained consciousness and later died in hospital.
A post-mortem examination revealed she had contracted norovirus and an inquest into her death will be held at South
Coroners Court on October 13.
Her daughter, Anne, said she felt the hotel ‘couldn’t wait to get rid of her despite the fact that she clearly wasn’t well enough to travel’.
NHS Health Scotland’s guidelines state that someone who has contracted norovirus should stay indoors and avoid direct contact with others until at least 48 hours after their symptoms have stopped.
The bug is highly infectious, with around half of those exposed to the virus also becoming sick – a 50 per cent ‘attack rate’.
Clare Comiskey, a public health lawyer at Irwin Mitchell, representing the Whymark and Francis families, said: ‘We are now investigating practices at Loch Achray Hotel and are keen to hear from any other guests who have had similar experiences at the hotel.’
Neil Wells, managing director for Lochs and Glens Holidays, said: ‘We were extremely saddened when we heard that Mrs Whymark had passed away and extend our deepest sympathy to the family.
‘We are in the process of carrying out an investigation into the circumstances surrounding her visit to the hotel.’
‘Couldn’t wait to get rid of her’