Thomas Cook faces legal action over illness at Tunisian resort
Thomas Cook faces legal action from a mother and daughter who fell ill while on holiday in Tunisia and say they are still suffering more than five months later.
Marie and Amanda Timney, from County Durham, fell ill just days into their September holiday at the El Mouradi Club resort in Kantaoui, booked with Thomas Cook.
The pair, on holiday to celebrate Amanda’s 30th birthday, suffered gastric illness symptoms including stomach pains, diarrhoea and vomiting.
Both sought medical attention on their return to the UK and Amanda, a pathology lab manager, was forced to take around two months off work due to the symptoms.
They have now instructed personal injury lawyers at Irwin Mitchell to handle their case.
The law firm has begun investigating their complaints about food sometimes being undercooked and uncovered, as well as dirty tables and crockery often seen in the buffet restaurant.
Jatinder Paul, a solicitor and specialist illness lawyer at Irwin Mitchell who is representing the family, said: "We are concerned by the reports of problems we have heard from our clients and it is particularly worrying that they are continuing to suffer more than three months on from the holiday.
"Gastric illness can be very serious and cause long-lasting problems so it is important that the cause is identified."
A Thomas Cook spokesperson said: "Thomas Cook takes health and hygiene issues very seriously and maintaining the safety of our customers is our number one priority.
"We would like to assure customers that incidents such as the ones reported by the Timney family in 2014 are rare, and we operate both a quality assurance programme and routinely undertake independent third party audits to ensure that the very highest hygiene standards are maintained.
"However, we are aware that the Timney family have approached a law firm to act as their legal representative. While our investigation into the illness continues, we are unable to provide further comment so as not to unduly influence any potential legal proceedings."
Bev
Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.
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