Family's holiday from hell

A LEADING law firm has urged a tour operator to ditch a sickness struck Turkish hotel where a Rotherham family endured a holiday from hell.Robert and Diane Parker and daughters Megan (11) and nine-year-old Ruby were half way through a two week stay at the

A LEADING law firm has urged a tour operator to ditch a sickness struck Turkish hotel where a Rotherham family endured a holiday from hell.

Robert and Diane Parker and daughters Megan (11) and nine-year-old Ruby were half way through a two week stay at the four-star Holiday Village Turkey in Sarigerme when a salmonella bug struck.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Megan was so ill she had to spend three days in hospital on her return home and lost almost three quarters of a stone in weight.

Her ankles swelled so badly she was unable to walk.

She was taken to Rotherham General Hospital where her 38-year-old mum Diane and dad Robert aged 40 were told the infection could leave Megan with arthritis.

But according to travel law experts Irwin Mitchell, the Parker family are just the latest to be struck down with illness while visiting the hotel.

Now the law firm has called on First Choice, the only UK tour operator to use the hotel, to ditch the site, featured on the BBC flagship consumer programme Watchdog, after the number of guests taking legal action since 2005 topped more than 1,100.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

More than 550 British guests have been struck down by health problems after visiting the holiday village this summer alone–the fifth consecutive year when illness has struck the hotel.

Diane, from Laughton, said: “It was just horrible. Megan is normally fit and active and has represented Yorkshire in athletics.

“But she was reduced to a sickly little thing.”

Soon after Megan’s release from hospital, Ruby, a pupil at Laughton Junior School, was hit by the salmonella bug. Both girls are now recovering.

Experts at Irwin Mitchell have slammed the latest problems to hit the hotel as 'shameful' and urged First Choice to remove it from its roster of hotels for 2010.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

But in spite of health concerns, First Choice have refused to stop sending guests to the resort.

Clive Garner, head of travel litigation at Irwin Mitchell, said: "Enough is enough. The Holiday Village Turkey's record is utterly shameful and this cannot be allowed to go on any longer. 

 "We have seen no evidence to support First Choice's suggestion of viral illness being the cause of the epidemic at the Holiday Village.

“We call on them to finally accept that they are liable and to compensate our clients for the illnesses they contracted and work with us to agree fair compensation to all those effected as soon as possible.”

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

He added: "We now represent more than 550 people whose hard-earned holidays were ruined this year, and that makes more than 1,100 in total in the last five years.

“How many more innocent children, parents and couples have to fall seriously ill at this hotel before First Choice takes action?

"These are not minor complaints about the odd bad meal. We're talking about repeated outbreaks of illnesses and about hundreds of children and adults who will be left with long-term illnesses and health problems due to repeated failures at this hotel for which the hotel's management and First Choice are both responsible.

"It's time to either shut this hotel down and sort it out once and for all, or for First Choice to simply stop taking any more bookings."

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

As well as complaints about the food being served, guests have told of substandard and unhygienic conditions including faeces in the swimming pools.

A First Choice spokeswoman said that this summer independent inspectors had rated the hotel’s quality standards as high.

She apologised to the Parker family but added: “The Holiday Village Turkey is one of the biggest  and most popular resorts in our programme with nearly 48,000 customers visiting each year.

“While we accept that any level of sickness is unacceptable, the number of holidaymakers falling sick remains very low.”

 

.

Related topics: