Personal Injury Solicitors

P&O Cruises has denied that a 50-year-old woman whose wedding anniversary was ruined when she developed symptoms of Shigella contracted the illness on board the Azura cruise liner.

The Daily Mail reports that in September 2014, dog groomer Teresa Day and her husband Michael boarded the Azura cruise ship for a 30th wedding anniversary cruise, only for Mrs Day to disembark in a wheelchair by the end of the cruise because her food poisoning symptoms were so severe.

Her symptoms included episodes of diarrhoea and vomiting – and on returning to the UK, she was diagnosed with the bacterial infection Shigella.

However, P&O Cruises deny that Mrs Day could have contracted the gastric infection on board the Azura – claiming that she must have picked it up while on shore at Messina in Sicily.

Mrs Day is taking legal advice over making a claim for holiday illness compensation – and her legal representative says that another couple who holidayed on board the Azura was diagnosed with E.coli in May.

Mrs Day told the MailonlineTravel:

“We had saved for such a long time to go on the cruise for our anniversary and were looking forward to it so much.

“We were completely heartbroken by what we went through – and I was shocked to see other people being taken off the ship in a wheelchair in the same state as me.

“I saw a doctor on board the ship and was given medication – but the problems persisted, so I visited my GP when we returned home.

“The illness forced me to take time off work – and I continue to suffer with symptoms to this day.

“Having to see a doctor is the last thing you would expect when booking a holiday to celebrate your anniversary – it was devastating.”

A spokesman for P&O Cruises said:

“We were very sorry to hear that Mrs Day was ill during her cruise in September.

“Shigella is a notifiable disease – and so Public Health England and Southampton Port Health were informed.

“Investigation was undertaken and no hypothesis for cause could be formed, other than the possibility Mrs Day picked it up ashore in Messina, Sicily.

“Public Health England were unable to detect any source on the ship, stating that no failure on the part of P&O Cruises could be identified.”

Duncan Lewis Personal Injury Solicitors – No win no fee Holiday Illness Claims

Duncan Lewis personal injury solicitors can advise holidaymakers who fall ill on package holidays or package cruises as a result of negligence on how to make a no win no fee claim for compensation, including claims relating to:

• Campylobacter
• Carbon monoxide poisoning
• Cholera
• Cryptosporidium
• Dysentery
• E.coli
• Legionnaire’s disease
• Listeria
• Giardiosis
• Salmonella
• Shigella.

Personal injury claims usually have to be made within three years of illness or diagnosis of holiday illness – ie diagnosis by a GP on returning home.

Children under the age of 18 can make a holiday illness compensation claim up to the age of 21.

For expert legal advice on no win no fee Holiday Illness Claims, contact Duncan Lewis Personal Injury Solicitors on 020 7923 4020.