Honeymooner’s Food-Poisoning Ordeal Finally Resolved With Compensation
A British man, who has suffered prolonged illness after eating poor-standard food on his honeymoon five years ago, has finally been awarded compensation for his “hellish” ordeal. Julian Hurley and his then new wife Jayne used First Choice Holidays to […]
A British man, who has suffered prolonged illness after eating poor-standard food on his honeymoon five years ago, has finally been awarded compensation for his “hellish” ordeal.
Julian Hurley and his then new wife Jayne used First Choice Holidays to book a package holiday to Venezuela in August 2004, where they stayed at the Costa Caribe Beach Hotel in Margarita, an island off the country’s north coast. There for two weeks, the couple became ill with food poisoning eight days into their romantic break. According to Mr Hurley, who is now 50 years old, “birds were allowed to fly in and out of the restaurant and food in the buffet area was left uncovered for long periods. The food was not heated properly and often looked like it had been prepared for earlier meals”. As it was a package holiday, the couple had not taken much money with them and so were left little choice but to eat what the hotel offered them.
Despite both husband and wife becoming ill, Mrs Hurley recovered after a few days whilst Julian remained in huge discomfort and pain for the rest of the holiday. Confined almost entirely to the hotel room, Mr Hurley received very little medical attention or treatment, eventually accepting a prescription given to him over the phone by a doctor who had not even examined him.
However, as Mr Hurley explains: “I was in such pain I was ready to accept any help and couldn’t think about the risks.” As soon as the couple were back in the UK, Mr Hurley visited his GP who, having run some tests, had him immediately admitted to Doncaster General Hospital under a diagnosis of Shigella. Potentially fatal, Shigella, or bacillary dysentery, is often caught by drinking contaminated water, or eating food that has been washed in contaminated water. With Shigella, the contamination is most often caused by human faeces in the water. Mr Hurley spent five days in isolation but even after he returned home his ordeal was far from over.
As a result of his illness, Mr Hurley suffered damage to his liver and kidneys, has irritable bowel syndrome, post-traumatic stress disorder and suffers from chronic fatigue. He has had to reduce the hours he works at his job, struggles to walk long distances, is easily tired, and has to depend greatly on his wife to not only be the main breadwinner but to also look after him.
Of his continuing illness Mr Hurley said: “I am still suffering from symptoms to this day and will do for the rest of my life which has been very difficult to come to terms with”.
The couple have now been awarded £286,500 in compensation after First Choice accepted responsibility for their holiday disaster and admitted liability. The couple’s lawyer, Elizabeth Tetzner, said: “It is a tour operator’s responsibility to ensure that standards of hygiene are maintained in the hotel they choose to send holidaymakers to, so that other people do not have to suffer as Mr Hurley has”.
First Choice made an out-of-court settlemet with the couple, with a spokespeson saying: “We would like to reassure our customers that their health and safety is of paramount importance”. Since the incident, First Choice have stopped operating on the island of Margarita. Mr Hurley said he was pleased with the settlement that had been awarded, as “it will allow me and Jayne to close this awful chapter in our lives and start looking to the future”.