Personal Injury Solicitors

A couple who suffered multiple bites from bed bugs while staying at a Thomas Cook resort in the Dominican Republic have won a five-figure payout from the tour operator.

The Daily Mail reports that Aaron Rigby, 34, and Jessica Mann, 24, suffered from painful red sores and blisters, which itched and burst.

The couple’s torsos and legs were covered in painful bites during their stay at the Sirenis Cocotal Beach Resort in 2011, which Thomas Cook no longer promotes.

Ms Mann, an aircraft coordinator at Manchester Airport, suffers from the skin condition Pompholyx – a type of eczema, which causes blisters on her hands and feet. She said the bites made her symptoms worse.

She was forced to take a month off work to recover from the severe blistering she suffered on the package holiday, she said.

”I had never been on a long-haul holiday before – and the trip was meant to be a special break for both of us.

“Instead, it was a very frightening experience and I just wanted to go home.

“When you go on holiday, you just never expect in a million years to suffer these issues.

“And now I have no choice but to live with my condition – which seems to have been made worse by the holiday. It is immensely frustrating.

“It was supposed to be a memorable break – but looking back now, I just wish we'd never gone.”

Mr Rigby – an insulation engineer – received medication from a doctor at the resort.

The couple had to push newspaper under their door to prevent more bugs entering their room, which was infested with bugs and cockroaches. Ms Mann said that the lights in their room also did not work properly.

The couple attended Stepping Hill Hospital in Stockport when they returned home and were prescribed painkillers, steroid treatment and creams for the red blisters.

Thomas Cook denied liability but agreed an undisclosed five-figure settlement with the couple, after they took legal action.

A spokesperson for Thomas Cook told MailOnline Travel that the tour operator takes health and hygiene issues “very seriously”.

“We were sorry to hear about Ms Mann and Mr Rigby’s experience while on holiday at the Sirenis Cocotal in the Dominican Republic in 2011.

“Thomas Cook closely audits all the properties to which it operates, to ensure that only the highest health and hygiene standards are maintained.

“We can confirm that the Sirenis Cocotal no longer features in our holiday programme,” the spokesperson added.

“It is never our intention to disappoint our customers.

“We are happy to say this matter has now been resolved to Ms Mann and Mr Rigby’s satisfaction – and that we have reached an agreement with their legal representatives.”


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

Duncan Lewispersonal injury lawyers can advise holidaymakers who suffer illness on package holidays as a result of negligence on how to make a no win no fee claim for holiday illness compensation, including claims relating to:

• Amoebic dysentery
• Bed bugs
• Campylobacter
• Carbon monoxide poisoning
• Cryptosporidium
• E. coli
• Giardiosis
• Holiday gastroenteritis
• Legionnaire’s disease
• Listeria
• Norovirus
• Shigella
• Salmonella.

Personal injury claims have to be made within three years of illness or diagnosis of illness – and children can claim compensation for holiday illness up to the age of 21.

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