Holiday
from hell for Broadstairs family
Source
of Article: http://www.thisiskent.co.uk/broadstairs/Holiday-hell-Broadstairs-family/article-1110276-detail/article.html
Thursday, June 25, 2009, 13:00
Tracey Chambers and her relatives were among 500 British tourists who
stayed at a hotel that was plagued by illnesses.
Tracey, who went to the Caribbean hotspot with her boyfriend Paul
Ellington, 12-year-old daughter Shannon Bailey, mum Jacqueline, dad
Clarence and 13-year-old nephew Josh Wells, had saved up £6,000 for the
dream holiday to the four-star Bahia Principe Hotel in the Dominican
Republic.
But the trip of a lifetime soon turned into a nightmare as the family
were struck by illnesses just days after arriving. They spent what should
have been two weeks in paradise instead chained to the loo suffering
sickness and diarrhoea.
Tracey, 43, said: “People were being sick in the swimming pool and the
toilets were all blocked up. Lots of people were being sick. We were told
to watch what we ate because there was bug going round.
“We all caught a norovirus, which are known as winter vomiting viruses.
They wouldn’t let us leave the hotel because they weren’t sure what it was
we had. Me and my daughter managed to shake it off but caught it a second
time before we came home. My dad had to be put on a drip because he was
dehydrated and couldn’t take on enough water. They were charging 40 dollars
for a trip to the hospital.
“We ended up looking after two young boys whose parents had to go into
hospital. My mum and dad had to go to a specialist in London when we got
back and we were all scarred by the experience.”
Other guests were diagnosed with shigella, giardia, salmonella and E
coli, thought to have come from food dressings.
Tracey, her boyfriend and her mother received compensation from My
Travel using law firm Irwin Mitchell – which has won more than £2.5 million
the tourists affected. The cases of her father, daughter and nephew have
not yet been decided.
A spokesperson for Thomas Cook, which owns My Travel, said: “We were
very concerned that the Chambers family became unwell at the Bahia Principe
in 2007. We are pleased this case has now been settled and we want to
reassure all our customers that we work with our hotel partners to
continually monitor the hygiene standards in their properties.”
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