Tour operator MyTravel has been ordered to pay £4,200 in compensation to a couple whose Mexican holiday was ruined by gastric illness. Mr and Mrs Walls had travelled to Cancun with their daughter, son-in-law and granddaughter, where they stayed at the Viva Azteca hotel. Due to the unsanitary conditions in which the food was prepared, the whole family was affected by abdominal pains and Mr Walls described the state of the eating facilities as 'appalling'. Under-cooked food was left uncovered in an eating area through which cats, lizards, flies and birds could move freely, on top of which the cutlery and crockery was often poorly washed. Outside, the pool was covered in a layer of scum and there was litter floating on the surface.
The Walls’s claim was part of a group action on behalf of 127 holidaymakers who were all affected by the unhygienic conditions in the hotel. Some, like Mr and Mrs Walls’s daughter, are still suffering the after-effects of the infection three years later.
Other members of the group action have yet to reach a satisfactory agreement with the tour operator. Some have been so badly affected that medical experts predict they will never fully recover.
