Holiday makers win £2.5m payout in hotel food poisoning case

A long-running legal action over conditions at a holiday hotel in Spain has resulted in almost 1,000 British holiday makers receiving a £2.5m group settlement.

Lawyers representing the holiday makers told reporters that the settlement, involving tour operators Thomson Holiday (TUI) and JMC (Thomas Cook) had been agreed before the High Court in Birmingham.

According to lawyers Irwin Mitchell it is the largest group action settlement of its kind.

During the proceedings evidence had been given that between 2002 and 2005 holiday makers had suffered from different varieties of food poisoning at the Beach Club Hotel in Torremolinos.

However the hotel management, Thomson Holiday (TUI) and JMC (Thomas Cook) had always denied responsibility for the outbreaks.

However following the announcement of the settlement Clive Garner, head of travel law at Irwin Mitchell said in a statement:

"Before the settlement was agreed, Thomson and Thomas Cook consistently denied liability and they repeatedly refused to accept that either themselves or the hotel management were in any way to blame, despite the fact that hundreds of guests at the hotel had suffered illness over a prolonged period.

"Our clients were therefore forced to take legal action to obtain compensation for their illnesses. In a tough and prolonged legal battle we obtained evidence from many medical and other experts supporting our clients' claims and obtained documents from the defendants, which showed the true nature of problems at the hotel and failures by the hotel management and others."

The settlement will be funded by Thomson Holiday (TUI) and JMC (Thomas Cook) and the hotel.

• Thomas Cook has paid more than £20m to acquire hotel booking website Hotels4U.com.

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