Pool Disaster & misrepresentation

[Robh1966]

Advice please!!!
Recently returned from Corfu, booking thru Thomas Cook in a supposed 4 star hotel (Greek 5*).

On arrival at 3am, put in a holding room cos room "double-booked". Holding room disgusting - mould on walls, no aircon, no water in bathromm sink!

Finally shown to rooms that were 1* at best! Holiday cost over £4000 for 4 of us. Complained - nothing available, unless paid 390euros to "upgrade"!! TC rep absolutely useless!! Pointed out TC brochure clearly says refurbished in 2006.

After a row, paid extra and got complaint form. Then found out 3 out of 4 families all did the same!!

Two days later, I developed severe burning sensation to genitalia following swimming in pool. I foolishly didn't see doctor (its a man-thing!), but discovered later that many, many people were affected (mainly men and children - presumably cos in swimming pool more).

This meant we couldn't use pool for 12 days of holiday. Complained to TC again, in attempt to prevent more children getting hurt. Manager of hotel quoted over 500 people being affected in front of guest contingent and TC rep. He later retracted this, and said 120 people had seen doctor.

Hotel & TC refused to close pool, and more kids got hurt. I submitted my complaint form while in resort, and have followed it up with letter in UK (requesting full refund + 390euros.) Got usual 28 day stalling letter from TC.

A lot of guests affected shared e-mail addresses with view of a group action on return to UK. Holiday Travel Watch have put ambulance chasers (Irwin Mitchell) in touch with us all. Irwin Mitchell reckon they are in contact with over 150 of us.

My dilemma I guess is do I wait to see what offer I get from TC - ratchet them up/go to arbitration, or do I sign up "no win no fee" with Irwin Mitchell?

Many people are concerned about longer term illnesses, infertility etc, and feel angry enough to claim compensation. I'd be delighted to get my money back, but I do think TC should be reprimanded for putting the health & safety of their guests at risk

I'd be grateful for anyone's thoughts

[ScarletPimpernel]

I know Irwin Mitchell professionally - they deal with many of the wounded service personnel returning from ops in Iraq and Afghanistan, and seem to be both successful and well thought of. I wouldn't class them as ambulance chasers like some others I can think of - but won't name .

[becka]

Irwin Mitchell are a very reputable firm and I would have no qualms recommending them especially for this sort of case. Especially if they have many people on the same claim

I would recommend allowing TC to at least respond though.

[patrickq1]

I MAY ASK WHEN YOU GOT THE BURNING SENSATION WERE YOU IN THE VICINITY OF THE POOL OUTLET/INLET GRIDS
sounds more like chrorine gas burns,this can happen if it is not correctly filtered before it gets into pool system,also some cleaning chemicals that come in contact with chlorinated bleach reacte and cause burning,if its bleach and your eyes are stinging then it usually means kids urinating in the water,,
patrickq1

[Robh1966]

Many thanks for quick responses.

I wasn't particularly close to the inlet/outlet points. We do have some amazing photos of the pool inlet area, showing a massive froth pluming around the pool.

The photo clearly shows holidaymakers sunbathing around the pool, with nobody in the water (hotel occupancy over 1000 people).

Many of us witnessed a liquid being poured directly into the pool from twenty 20l blue drums; there were people across the other side of the pool when this was being done!! The blue drums had the yellow sign for danger on them. We have asked for full documentation of the salt concentrate and chemicals put in the pool over this period.

My limited understanding of the management of pools in the UK is that minerals/chemicals are put into a filtration tank first, before being pumped into the pool. Is this correct?

[patrickq1]

sounds like sodium hyperchlorite bleach and to pour this around the pool is extremely dangerous,you have been burned with chlorine bleach by the sounds of things and was their an deven in a fifty mtr pool two buckets would have been enough to clean the water ...but firstly they are in breach of health and safety rules and this even applies in the eu,bleach should only go through the filters before it gets near the water...and if they are using 25 ltr drums this is about.enough to keep a pool filtered for a week but it should never happen like this,if you have kept a sample of water then take it to the t/s and ask that they test this for sodium/and other concentrates.but as it stands you have a right to complain to the holiday company about the burning and this can be serious to the eyes ..so you have a definate complaint this hotel has acted against the health and saftey...it will also be obvious that no one was at the pool testing the water with a test kit..if you noticed this then it is possible they have recorded the ph in the pool and by the sounds of things they must have had an extremely low ph in otherwords almost at an acid stage and it has been compounded with aditional bleach...poor you lot i would claim for definate give the holiday co a chance and if no joy then t s after that good luck mate

[Bookworm]

If the burning carried on after the swimming or being near it, especially whilst urinating, it may well be a UTI, which could have been caused by bacteria in the water. There's really not enough info to know for sure, you should get checked by your dr just in case.

[Robh1966]

For clarity, the burning I referred was to was not internal but external to skin.

Apologies for detail!
In my case, the burning sensation to scrotum was severe, and resulted in a crusting of the skin that eventually flaked off about 3 days later. I was then fine, and did not use pool.

Many men experienced similar, but children seemed affected worse. In addition to genital burns, they got burns in creases of arms and armpits, under hairlines etc. To summarise - in sensitive areas.

Some little boys who wore long shorts were burnt from one knee, up leg, around genitals, and back down to other knee.

I'm guessing that children were affected worse because they spent a lot more time in pool than adults. Perhaps their skin is softer too, and hence more sensitive?

The only time we saw the pool guy with a meter was on the last two days, when water became clearer again. The previous 10 days, you could NOT see the bottom of the pool - I understand now that this should never be so.

Some families did take samples of the pool water, and I'm waiting to hear the results of the tests

[patrickq1]

yes it is a reaction to the sodium hyperchlorine,this is a concentrated bleach it is about ten times the strenngh of normal household bleach,and mixed with sulphorous urine i then will cause an even greater reaction so much so that if the children were to sunbathe some hours later it would have a disatrous effect to the skins own imune system and can cause the skin to react year after year whereby your skins imune system can be irrevocably damaged and if they were trying to clear a pool by this use of chemicals it is totally inapropiate as well as being ilegal use was this in spain or portugal i know in spain they did tighten up health and safety round the pools...pool filters are usually sand and carbon and a product that is then added before the chlorine is called alluminen sulphate this creates a flock that collects bacteria and then the chlorine is then added through the filters in the boiler rooms usually ,but one more chemical .that is different ,for the pool to be murky for ten days dose not sound good.but this could be caused by the allumenem sulphate too much so the water goes cloudy but you should be able to see the bottom,personally i think they not been doing whats called a backwash in fact its obvious they have nt done a backwash sso in other words if they have not had any illuminem sulphate they have again put your health at risk due to bacteria and all sorts of diseases lurk in the water....
patrickq1

[patrickq1]

sodium hyperchlorite not um sorry

[patrickq1]

did it again not um lol not ine..

[Robh1966]

Patrick - thanks for taking the bother to share your thoughts.
This was in Corfu.

You sound as if you know about pool maintenance - before I share your comments with our Action Group, may I ask your qualification to talk of this, or what your occupation is?



Presumably the solicitors representing our Action Group will employ their own experts to conclude from our witness statements, doctor reports and photos?

[patrickq1]

i was a swimming instructor rlss teacher to distinction.asa sta essa and also assistant pool manager for many years(5) ,my only other job is i am a ceramic tiler ,and have tiled about 80 swimming pool complexes over thirty years,during the late 70s the building trade suffered and i fell into my hobby swimming/teaching and then did this until the 80s on a part time basis and had the honour of three olympic swimmer in the brittish team ,so i do have knowledge
also had a look last night you are entitled to claim against the insurance policy for i think safely for negligence...

[BITTEN BY A SHARK]

i can corroborate robh1966. my two children suffered burn like scars to their bodies whilst i suffered the genital irritation. like robh1966 i am also unsure of what to do next i have written to thomas cook and yet to receive a reply but have been contacted by irwin mitchell solicitors

[patrickq1]

do contact the solicitors this is negligence in the first instance their is no excuse for what has happened your skin can suffer serious harm especially if you went into the sunlight and had sunbathed with the oils in the skin being dried and then the effect of a tanning factor it is a recipy for disaster you may have found you had a sort of blistering itch that has become very tender and hopefully this dose nt happen to you but this will continue in the affected area from here on in,i have seen the effects of this first hand ,thomas cook may try fob you off apoligies etc dont accept this go for legal consultation because this isnt a aawww it will be ok in ten minits it could be their for a good number of years thats the worse case scenario but seek legal advice...patrickq1

[Robh1966]

Just heard from Thomas Cook, conveniently ignoring detail of my letter!

Said that I had chosen to upgrade out of choice - the rooms originally provided were as on my confirmation sheet! (ie standard rooms). This is true but having paid o£4300, I expected Standard in a 4* hotel to be reasonable - not a 1* chalet!! Thats why I had to upgrade.

Re pool, TC say the representative did what she could!! This is disgraceful because many, many guests pleaded with the reps to stop new arrivals from going in the pool , to prevent further injuries. It is difficult not to conclude that TC were complicit with Hotel in allowing more UK guests to suffer what we did.

I'll now be signing up with the action group fronted by Irwin Mitchell. Thanks for your input guys, and I'll try to remember to post an outcome when the case finally gets resolved either way.

[Batfink]

The main problem you're going to have is that you didn't see a doctor. The insurers acting for the travel company will say that as you didn't need to see a doctor then you weren't injured, and therefore you possibly won't get any kind of compensation.

(On a personal note, if anything had hurt my *ahem* lady garden, I'd be straight off to the medics...it's a bit of an important area!)