MP calls on Cameron to ensure safety of British tourists

The safety of British tourists abroad must be prioritised when the Prime Minister renegotiates Britain’s EU membership, a shadow minister said last night.

Labour MP Mary Creagh also repeated her call for a Europe-wide campaign for better carbon monoxide safety following the deaths of British youngsters Bobby and Christi Shepherd while on a Thomas Cook holiday to Corfu in 2006.

And Creagh, who is the local MP for the children’s family, also urged ministers match Thomas Cook’s ‘financial gesture of goodwill’ to their parents, Neil Shepherd and Sharon Wood.

Leading an adjournment debate in Parliament last night, Creagh said the government should ‘do their bit to put things right as well’.

Tourism minister Tracey Crouch agreed to meet with ABTA to ensure the travel industry understands its ‘duty of care’ to holidaymakers.

At the UK inquest earlier this year into the Shepherd children’s deaths from carbon monoxide poisoning, the coroner said there had been a breach in Thomas Cook’s duty of care to the family, whose holiday bungalow was next to a room with a faulty boiler.

Creagh said: "British families need and deserve good safety standards across Europe and across the UK, and the opposition of the government and of other member states means progress on carbon monoxide safety has stalled.

"The EU Commission has decided there’s no case for introducing legislation for carbon monoxide safety in holiday accommodation after its green paper.

"That must change. The Government too has a duty of care to British citizens and the Prime Minister should make the safety of British tourists a priority as he seeks to renegotiate the UK’s relationship with the EU.

"Carbon monoxide is a silent killer. Nothing will bring back Bobby and Christi. But their parents’ dearest wish is to spare other families the heartbreak they have suffered."

She added: "Their parents have told me they will never again have a perfect day. So the powers that be, whether in this Government or at Thomas Cook, should be in no doubt that whatever power this place gives us, I intend to use to campaign for justice for Christi and Bobby and their parents.

"Theirs is a cause that cries out for justice, attention and for change and we must see that they get it."

Crouch said the previous Tory-led coalition government had concluded, in response to a European Commission green paper on tourism safety, that UK legislation does make necessary safety provisions for British tourists.

The Commission is not considering EU-wide regulation, she said.

However, Crouch said the Government could look at strengthening enforcement of existing rules.

"There is no room for complacency and while we might think as a government at the moment that there’s not a need to amend the primary legislation, there is a strong case for considering how effectively these laws are enforced," she said.

"ABTA and its partners have long campaigned on this issue and I can tell you and the House as a direct response to this debate I will be meeting with ABTA and the industry to ensure that it fully understands its duty of care to consumers.

"It’s imperative that the sector commits itself to upholding best practice, from industry suppliers all the way to the end user, the customer."

Crouch also had harsh words for Thomas Cook, saying that it needs to maintain ‘a fundamental standard of human decency’ and she urged the holiday firm to ‘reflect at length’ on how the Shepherd family were treated.

"I do think it is absolutely clear that the extended and ongoing dialogue between them (Thomas Cook) and the family has contributed to the family’s distress," she said.

"Clearly there are lessons that Thomas Cook must learn from this dreadful episode. The coroner’s report makes clear that they need to review and improve their safety practices. Robust safety procedures are enshrined in law and they were not followed.

"Thomas Cook should also reflect at length upon how they have treated a grieving family. Their duty of care extends beyond the physical and the letter of the law, there is a fundamental standard of human decency that must be met in the future."