Caught on camera... holiday bug cowboy as he urges tourists to lie for cash
UNDERCOVER holiday sickness ‘spies’ hired by a British tour operator caught a rogue claims management company on video urging tourists to lie about being ill in order to claim thousands of pounds in compensation.
The Mail on Sunday has obtained footage recorded by private investigators targeting alleged fraudsters who are encouraging travellers to make bogus sickness claims against UK travel companies.
The investigators – posing as a family-of-four on holiday in Benidorm – were approached by a British firm called Sick By The Sea which was caught on camera encouraging them to lie about falling ill at the resort.
The Mail on Sunday revealed in September that cowboy firms were systematically coaching tourists to lie about holiday sickness to win compensation.
Experts warned that the cynical practice is costing the industry millions of pounds which will inevitably force the cost of package holidays to rise.
Some travel operators have seen a staggering 400 per cent increase in holiday sickness claims, many of which they fear are fraudulent.
Now we can reveal that one of Britain’s largest travel operators hired investigation firm Tremark to stay at the Sol Pelicanos hotel – where the TV show Benidorm is filmed – during half term last month.
The operator, which we are not naming for legal reasons, employed the firm after hotel managers raised fears that a claims management company was handing out fliers to holidaymakers. The investigators posed as a couple with two children and were approached by a man, who we have identified as Joe Gilmartin, who works for Sick By The Sea, based in Manchester.
He had booked a room at the resort and was posing as a holidaymaker when he approached the ‘family’ and engaged them in a conversation about the hotel’s food.
Gilmartin then told them that if they lied about having upset stomachs they would each be entitled to £3,000.
Unbeknown to him, the female investigator’s 16-yearold daughter was recording the encounter.
After being told repeatedly by the ‘family’ they were not sick, Gilmartin encouraged them to go to a chemist to buy diarrhoea treatments to provide evidence that could boost their claim.
He told them: ‘It’s that easy… All you need to do is get some Dioralyte… Take a photo of it and I’ll send it to my solicitor.’
The male investigator asked whether they will need to see a doctor, to which Gilmartin said it would not be necessary as they would already have ‘proof’ of medicine.
He [Gilmartin] added they were ‘lucky’ because they were ‘already abroad getting told the instructions’. He said: ‘The best ones [claims], the complete flawless ones, is the ones where they’ve got the pictures of the Imodium and things like that.’
When the male investigator asked: ‘Can it come back and bite us?’ Gilmartin replied: ‘Can it, heck. It’s no win no fee. This doesn’t get to court. We’ll send off letters…
‘My mates out here are killing it. I mean killing it. I’m going to go to the Canary Islands next.’
The tour operator which hired the investigators called the footage ‘shocking’, adding: ‘If someone is genuinely ill then they are our priority and we want to ensure there are not others who are taking advantage of a loophole.’
Last night Gilmartin refused to comment. Director of Sick By The Sea Steven Howarth said: ‘It is not our company policy to encourage people to lie about holiday sickness claims and we will look at disciplinary action against this member of staff.’