Holiday Food Poisoning Leaves British Man Celebrating 60th Birthday in Intensive Care
17/02/2010
Holiday illness solicitors from leading law firm Irwin Mitchell have called on tour operators to urgently improve hygiene standards after a man was left in intensive care in Egypt after suffering from food poisoning while on holiday to celebrate his 60th birthday.
Paul Newton, from Firth Park, in Sheffield, was struck down by the illness while he and his wife, Veronica, were on a two week Virgin Holidays package break in Egypt, intending to combine a week-long stay at the four-star Grand Sharm Plaza with a cruise in the Red Sea.
Just four days before their holiday began, Virgin Holidays informed the couple that they were being transferred to the four-star Savita Spa hotel due to ongoing contractual problems between Virgin Holidays and the Grand Sharm Plaza.
Upon arriving, the couple complained of poor standards at the hotel, particularly of the hygiene standards demonstrated by hotel staff.
Mr Newton said: “The Savita Spa hotel was very disappointing in general but the standard of hygiene was absolutely shocking. Food was often left uncovered and was surrounded by insects.
“Some of the chicken served at the buffet still had blood in it, and food that was left over from one meal was sometimes re-served at the next.”
After their week-long stay at the Savita Spa, Mr and Mrs Newton continued onto the Thomson Celebration cruise liner as originally planned but just a couple of hours after boarding, Mr Newton began to suffer from stomach cramps and dehydration before later developing severe diarrhoea. After seeing the onboard doctor, he was diagnosed with food poisoning and admitted to the onboard intensive care unit where he was put on a drip and fed I.V antibiotics. He was later transferred to the Aquaba Hospital in Jordan.
Mr Newton added: “The treatment meant I had to go for four days without eating at all and I lost over a stone in weight. By the time I was taken off the drip my hands had swollen to the size of balloons because my veins had collapsed.
“The whole experience caused a lot of pain at the time and since returning we are facing hefty bills for medical treatment and phone calls abroad it is fortunate that we had insurance to cover our medical expenses. This was meant to be a special holiday but turned into the holiday from hell.”
Mr Newton now suffers from ongoing gastric problems and continues to see his GP on a regular basis in the UK.
Other guests onboard the cruise liner who stayed at the Savita Spa Hotel complained of similar problems and leading law firm Irwin Mitchell is now making a holiday illness claim on behalf of the couple.
Clare Pearson, Travel Law specialist at Irwin Mitchell said: “Tour operators are responsible for ensuring the safety of their customers and must take reasonable steps to do so.”
“Time and again we see British holidaymakers who have suffered serious illnesses while on holiday because their tour operators have sent them to hotels which have substandard hygiene levels. This is simply unacceptable and more needs to be done now to stop this happening in the future.
”We are very concerned that our clients were sent to the Savita Spa hotel and suffered severe food poisoning as a result. Legal action has commenced against Virgin Holidays and we hope that Virgin will act promptly to avoid illness amongst future guests staying at the hotel. If they cannot be certain of this, we urge Virgin to stop sending guests there until the risk of food-borne illness is eliminated.
“Meanwhile, we invite Virgin to enter negotiations with us as soon as possible to resolve Mr and Mrs Newton’s claims for damages.”
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