The couple from Liverpool travelled with Jet2holidays on a 12-day all-inclusive holiday to Gloria Palace, San Agustin, Gran Canaria in July 2015.
The operator received a letter from an Oldham-based solicitors more than 15 months after the couple returned from their holiday, claiming damages in connection with food poisoning.
Jet2holidays claims neither it nor the hotel had received any complaint from the customer at the time of the holiday or subsequently.
The law firm claims the couple both suffered “stomach cramps and severe diarrhoea”, and both were “bed-ridden during an acute period of illness”.
The symptoms allegedly began on the second day of the holiday; with the claimants alleging the illness “spoiled the rest of the holiday”.
Jet2holidays claims that during the course of investigating the claim with the hotelier, it came to light that their records show that the customers continued to enjoy a range of alcoholic drinks throughout the time of their illness.
In a bullet point list, Jet2holidays claimed the following:
- The night of the alleged onset of the illness, at least six shots of spirits and mixers were consumed
- The night after the onset of the illness, cocktails and spirits were consumed
- Two days after the onset of illness, a very significant quantity of beers were consumed during the afternoon and spirits in the evening
Alcohol apparently continued to be consumed throughout the rest of the holiday.
Jet2holidays chief executive, Steve Heapy said: “We want our customers to have a great holiday and to continue to enjoy the benefits of all-inclusive.
“But the danger is that these fake food poisoning claims put the all-inclusive holiday at risk.
“The sharp rise in the number of sickness claims is costing hoteliers and travel companies dearly, and it’s frustrating when so many are made a year or more after the holiday has ended. We risk the actions of the dishonest few spoiling the plans of many British holidaymakers.
“My message is simple. No one cares more about you on holiday than us. If you have a problem on holiday, we are there for you and we take genuine claims very seriously.
“But food bug fraudsters are fooling customers into thinking they can make a claim even when they weren’t ill without any consequences, which is not true.
“These are the same guys that made so much money out of whiplash cases. I’m calling on the government to crack down on the food bug fraudsters.”
