Terrible Conditions At Four Star Bulgarian Resort Blasted By Mortified Mum
14/11/2011
Leading travel lawyers at Irwin Mitchell have called for an urgent review of health and hygiene standards after a five-month old baby became seriously ill at a four-star holiday resort.
Two families, one of whom included a five month old baby have approached Irwin Mitchell after being taken ill with severe gastric illnesses whilst staying at the four-star Sun Palace Hotel in Bulgaria in September 2011.
Concerned for future holidaymakers, Claire Bowden, 31, said she felt she had no choice but to seek legal advice after being ‘mortified’ to see several other families suffer illness and infection at the hotel, which she booked as part of a package with Balkan Holidays.
The two families both visited their GPs in the UK after suffering from painful gastric symptoms, including stomach cramps, sickness and diarrhoea.
Both groups reported undercooked chicken, lukewarm and recycled food being served in a restaurant overrun with animals and bugs, as well as a dirty pool. Both groups also reported other tourists in the resort complaining of similar symptoms.
All members of the Fyles family, from Radcliffe in Manchester, fell ill at the resort. Dad Michael, 50, mum Karen, 43, and their twin children Connor and Stephanie, 12, continue to suffer from the symptoms of their illness, which include diarrhoea and vomiting.
The Bowden family, from Stalybridge, Greater Manchester, also fell ill at the resort. Claire, 31, Anthony, 27, Jake, 5, and Madison, 5 months, all continue to suffer gastric symptoms and are awaiting the results of tests taken by their local GP.
Now travel law experts at Irwin Mitchell have demanded an urgent review of standards at the hotel, which has been blasted on the Trip Advisor website, to ensure that lessons are learnt.
Claire, who is currently on maternity leave from her job as an auxiliary nurse said: “We arrived at the hotel, and immediately knew it was not four-star quality. The hot food was tepid at best, and the fact that the hotel had to provide microwaves for guests to re-heat their food just shows that it should not have been served up in the first place. Dinner was just a rehash of lunch, and in the end the food was so bad that we just ended up eating out despite paying for full board. Surely no one could deny that the conditions were plain terrible!
"We were so ill and couldn’t wait to get home. But I was mortified to see so many others also suffering as a result of really serious gastric symptoms and infections as a result of the hygiene in the hotel and pool. No one at the hotel seemed to care much though, we complained but it didn’t feel like we were being taken seriously.”
Jatinder Paul, a travel law specialist at Irwin Mitchell, said: “The reports we have received from our clients and other guests indicate that the hotel fell well short of acceptable standards in a number of respects. As well as contracting serious illness during their stays at the Sun Palace the reports we’ve heard suggest staff have shown a lack of care when guests fell ill - even when one of those guests was a 5-month-old baby.
"Tour operators have a clear duty of care to their customers to protect their safety. From the evidence available it is clear that important and fundamental standards of health and safety were breached.
"We hope that Balkan Holidays will work with us to resolve this matter swiftly and amicably on behalf of our clients and that a full investigation into conditions at the resort are carried out so the two families involved can attain answers, justice and assurances that lessons have been learnt as a result of what they have been through.”
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