Holiday hell was far from a Turkish delight

A DISGRUNTLED family is taking a leading travel agent to court after what they claim was a holiday from hell in Turkey.

Pam and Chris Cheetham, from Shaw, along with their two daughters — Eleanor (18) and Alicia (11) — were looking forward to their sun-soaked getaway at the Holiday Village resort in Sarigerme back in 2009.

But the girls ended up poisoned by life-threatening bacteria.

Alicia fell ill with gastroenteritis and had to go to hospital on her return home, but Eleanor had to be hospitalised with the same condition in Turkey and flew home three days late as a result. The 500-room hotel, which was the subject of an investigation by BBC consumer show “Watchdog”, spurred the couple to take legal action against tour operator First Choice, after repeated incidences of unclean kitchens and bad hygiene.

Mrs Cheetham said: “We only went for a week but by the fifth day, Eleanor was really unwell, she kept being sick and she was really weak. She had to go on a drip.

“She wouldn’t go to Turkey now if you paid her, she’s been really scarred by the whole thing. The worst thing was we got home late on the Sunday and she had to sit her maths GCSE on the Monday.

“I just don’t want another family to go through what we have been through — it was horrendous. And the most annoying thing is that people from this country are still being sent to that resort — even though the problems haven’t been sorted out.”

Clive Garner, of lawyers Irwell Mitchell, criticised the tour operator for failing to live up to its responsibilities after it compromised the welfare of 584 people whose holidays were ruined by illness.

There were 46 cases of salmonella poisoning, 31 cases of cryptosporidium poisoning — and a further 31 victims who suffered both.

He said: “The hotel has an appalling health and safety record — 2009 was the fifth successive year that serious illness broke out, while there were 29 further complaints in 2010. The range of confirmed bacterias people were exposed to is shocking — they can cause excruciatingly uncomfortable and painful symptoms — at worst, they can kill.”

A spokeswoman from First Choice said: “First Choice closely audit all the resorts to which we operate, to ensure that health, hygiene and comfort levels are maintained.

“We would like to take this opportunity to highlight that reports of sickness in 2010 were minimal.

The Holiday Village Turkey continues to be extremely popular with our guests — in 2010 90 per cent rated the accommodation as good or excellent.

“We are confident that those customers due to travel to the resort in the future will enjoy the excellent levels of quality and standards they would expect from a First Choice property.”