Holiday food poisoning ruined man’s life
Carl Riley, 46, was enjoying a two week holiday when he was hit by a deadly bout of food poisoning on holiday almost five years ago. Mr Riley was staying at the Concorde El Salam hotel in Sham El Sheik […]
Carl Riley, 46, was enjoying a two week holiday when he was hit by a deadly bout of food poisoning on holiday almost five years ago.
Mr Riley was staying at the Concorde El Salam hotel in Sham El Sheik on the southern tip of the Sinai peninsular in Egypt with his then, long-term, girlfriend.
The couple had decided to attend a beach barbeque that was organised by staff from the hotel. However he ate a burger that was “riddled” with E.coli0157 bug, shortly after which Mr Riley was “wracked” with severe stomach pains and diarrhoea. It was at this point, 20th November 2004, that the “holiday of a lifetime” turned into an “absolute nightmare” and ruined Mr Riley’s life and, Mr Riley believes, the relationship with his long term girlfriend.
Mr Riley described his food poisoning in detail, saying: “I was really, really ill for a couple of days. But it didn’t clear up. We went to the Valley of the Kings and it was a total disaster. It was horrific. It was really bad for weeks and weeks.” By the end of the two week holiday Mr Riley had lost a stone in weight.
By January of 2005, two months after the holiday, Mr Riley suffered a severe nosebleed due to dangerously high blood pressure. By February he was at the end-stage of kidney failure having to spend three weeks in a hospital in Newcastle for blood transfusions.
Mr Riley, from Bigrigg near Cleator Moor, was forced to give up his job at Sellafield due to the severe stomach cramps and kidney failure that he suffered. He also had to give up his favourite hobbies of cycling and fell walking and needs dialysis three times a week.
First Choice, the travel company through whom Mr Riley booked his two week package holiday, admitted liability and the negligence claim was settled outside of court. It took a two year legal battle but Mr Riley was finally awarded £750,000 in compensation for the food poisoning incident. This included loss of earnings, loss of future earnings, loss of pension, the cost of travelling for dialysis and any help he will need to maintain his home as well as compensation for his pain and suffering. Mr Riley said “the money will help ease the financial burden, but what happened to me destroyed my life.”
Eventually doctors discovered that the E.coli infection had left Mr Riley with a rare blood disorder called Haemolytic Uraemic Syndrome. His life expectancy has been reduced and he will require a life time of dialysis or a kidney and liver transplant which is an extremely high risk procedure.
Mr Riley said that he “was medically retired in March last year and [I] have to go to Carlisle for dialysis three times a week. It’s not a very pleasant experience. You have to spend four hours every other day hooked up to a machine and it involves a huge needle. My medical state means I suffer from fatigue all the time. You feel really, really weak. It’s like having flu, but you have good days and bad days. I used to enjoy fell walking, cycling and stuff like that. After it happened I became angry and depressed because my quality of life was reduced. At the end of the day it wasn’t like I just got ill. This happened because somebody didn’t do something right like wash their hands and they contaminate the food I ate. I went on holiday and it ended up being an absolute nightmare. When First Choice accepted liability I wanted to settle this case as soon as possible, but they changed their lawyers and fought on for another two years.”
First Choice said that hygiene standards at the hotel were constantly monitored and an independent audit had taken place since the incident and the hygiene levels were rated very highly. A spokesman for First Choice said “we would like to reassure our customers that their health and safety is of paramount importance…This hotel is rated very highly by our customers and continues to be a popular hotel. We are very confident that guests due to travel there in the future will experience the excellent levels of quality of and standards they expect from a First Choice property.”
If you have been made ill with food poisoning on holiday you may be able to make a claim for compensation. It is vital that you go to an experienced personal injury solicitor for advice as soon as you are able to as there are strict time limits involved.
Macks Solicitors are a specialist law firm with experienced solicitors who are happy to provide personal injury compensation advice without obligation.