Thomas Cook win against fraudulent sickness claim
Travel agent Thomas Cook has announced that it won the first of a number of cases of customer sickness claims brought against a hotel in Gran Canaria, Spain. A judge in Liverpool County Court in the UK on 10 July concluded that the claimants had not suffered any illness, and had instead been fraudulent in their claim.
Due to UK court rules, the claimants were ordered to pay the legal costs for the case due to them being found as ‘fundamentally dishonest’ by the Judge. Thomas Cook said that the ruling sends a ‘clear message’ to claimants making false claims. It also hopes that the ruling is reflective of the increasing awareness from the judicial system of cases of fraud and that this will set a precedent in these types of cases.
Chris Mottershead, managing director of Thomas Cook in the UK, said the recent surge in unreported illness claims being brought to bear threatens holidays for all UK customers. He added: “In these cases, we will not accept liability and we will take further action where we believe it is necessary to protect all of our customers.”
The claim in question was brought to Thomas Cook by the Lavelle family, who brought a complaint to Thomas Cook in May 2016 – nearly three full years after the family went on holiday to the Parque Cristobal Hotel in Gan Canaria. The family claimed that they had suffered symptoms of illness from the third day of their two-week holiday until their return to the UK. Evidence was presented in court, however, which suggested that the family had been lying about their illness, including no mention of the illness mentioned on the hotel feedback form and the fact that no medical attention was sought.
“Given the recent surge in false holiday sickness claims, the industry has been anticipating a case of this significance for quite some time now,” said Sarah Hill, head of fraud and partner at BLM, acting on behalf of Thomas Cook. “The ruling of fundamental dishonesty is a satisfying outcome, not just for Thomas Cook but for the wider travel industry, and will hopefully set a precedent for the future treatment of false claims in UK courts.”