Abta meets government over rise in illness claims

It comes after growing numbers of agents and operators complained of a stark increase in the amount of legal letters they had received in recent months, from lawyers demanding compensation for alleged illnesses suffered from customers while on holiday.

Abta told TTG it had seen a “significant increase” in the number of solicitor letters being sent to agencies. In a statement it said the claims, which mainly centre on gastric illnesses, contained “very little evidence” and were fuelled by “aggressive sales practices of some claims management companies”.

The association added it would meet with the government department in charge of regulating claims firms to “ensure it takes the necessary action to safeguard the system from fraudulent claims”.

Richard Lightfoot, owner of OTA Lowcostsunshine.co.uk, described how his business had received “almost daily” correspondence from law firms for more than six months.

“We’re being told that they’re investigating us and how they are going to use everything within the power of the law to get money from us,” he told TTG. “It’s time-consuming responding to each claim; it feels like the issue is just going to grow and grow.

A worrying craze

“In a lot of the letters we’ve received there is no evidence that the customers even went to a doctor or had medical treatment. It’s a worrying craze, and could be costly for tour operators and agents.”

Martyn Dean, director of Gateshead-based JLM Travel, said he had recently been contacted by a family who had holidayed in Tunisia more than two years ago.

“The whole culture is disgusting,” said Dean. “They seem to target small businesses like mine because they’re trying to make a quick buck and think it won’t be challenged – it’s just ambulance chasing.

“Customers coming back from their holidays have even told us about people asking them in resort if they had been ill and if they wanted to file a claim against their travel agent.”

Matt Gatenby, partner at TravLaw, agreed there had been a “massive increase” in illness claims against agents and operators in the last six months. “It’s always been a big problem, but in the last six months in particular, claims have really shot up. It’s a huge problem.”

He urged agents to “stand their ground” if they received legal letters, and to ensure all their paperwork made it clear that the customer’s contract lies with the hotel rather than them. “Illness claims are very difficult to win if you’re defending, especially if it was at an all-inclusive resort and the customer says they didn’t eat anywhere else.

“If people are ill for a week or two, they can usually win around £1,000 to £2,000 per person, and the legal fees on top of that can easily be three or four times that per person.”