Our Food Poisoning team secured a five figure settlement for a male voice choir after 35 of its members and their partners were struck down with gastric illness while staying at a hotel in Yorkshire.
The High Wycombe Orpheus Male Voice choir was staying in Scarborough’s Grand Hotel prior to appearing at a charity concert. However, for the first time in their 89 year history, they were forced to cancel their appearance after vomiting, diarrhoea and headaches confined most of their number to their rooms.
The victims of this outbreak of gastric illness put their ordeal down to undercooked food and poor hygiene standards. This wasn’t the first time the hotel has come under scrutiny for their hygiene practices either: in December 2004 the hotel shut for three days after 14 guests were affected by a viral infection, in 2005 a BBC Inside Out presenter went undercover at the hotel and discovered traces of E.coli in the vegetable quiche along with findings that left a top microbiologist “horrified”, and in March 2007, it was reported that more than 100 guests fell ill after staying there.
The choir then got in touch with the Food Poisoning team here at Irwin Mitchell. Our specialists put together a group claim for all those affected, and were able to secure as much as £7,500 each for the most seriously ill choristers.
Amandeep Dhillon, the solicitor who represented the case, said this: “It is a major concern that this outbreak was able to affect so many of the guests in the party.
“Holidaymakers staying at hotels, whether abroad or in the UK, deserve the assurance that their accommodation meets basic standards of hygiene. But, on this occasion that was clearly not the case and a large number of people were left feeling very unwell and extremely vulnerable, something they put down to poor levels of hygiene.
“To make matters worse the choir was forced to cancel a performance for the first time ever, which was nothing short of heartbreaking for them and the charity that was to benefit from this concert.”
Ken, the Choir Chairman, said this of his ordeal: “From the minute we arrived at the Grand Hotel we could tell things weren’t quite right. It looked really run down. The food was a disgrace; it was served undercooked – at best lukewarm. The toilet facilities were just horrendous.”
“It was devastating that so many of us fell ill, and to then have to cancel one of our performances was soul destroying and highly embarrassing but we had no choice, we didn’t have the strength to leave our rooms let alone sing.”
“It’s been a long hard slog to get to this stage, and we are extremely grateful to Irwin Mitchell who diligently pursued our cases for us. Although nothing can make up for what we went through it’s a relief that we can finally start to put this unfortunate experience behind us.”
If you've suffered food poisoning due to poor hygiene standards, our personal injury claims team could help you secure compensation. See our Food Poisoning Claims page for more information.
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