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Couple jailed for holiday sickness scam
The travel industry’s fight against a sharp rise in false sickness claims has had a breakthrough after a couple were jailed for a scam against Thomas Cook.
Paul Roberts, 43, and Deborah Briton, 53, are the first people to be prosecuted for bogus sickness claims. They were jailed on Friday for 15 months and nine months respectively.
The couple, from Wallasey in Merseyside, tried to claim nearly £20,000 by pretending that two all-inclusive family holidays to Majorca, in 2015 and 2016, ended with diarrhoea and vomiting.
Had the scam been successful, it would have cost Thomas Cook another £28,000 in legal costs.
Judge David Aubrey, QC, at Liverpool Crown Court, said a message had to go out to holiday sickness fraudsters that they should expect to go to prison.
"There has been an explosion in gastric illness claims in relation to those from this country who holiday abroad," he said.
"Those who may be tempted in the future to make a dishonest claim in relation to fake holiday sickness, if they are investigated and brought to justice, whatever the circumstances of an individual, he or she must expect to receive an immediate custodial sentence."
The sentence came on the same day as the UK Government launched a call for evidence on false claims as it prepares to introduce new legislation early next year.
The couple had claimed their family, including children aged 13 and 14, had suffered severe gastric illness but their Facebook posts had described a ‘fantastic holiday’ and ‘two weeks of sun, laughter and fun’.
Even when Thomas Cook said in March it would not be paying out, the couple persisted with the claims, made through a solicitors firm, until June.
Lloyd Morgan, defending Briton, said the unemployed mum was ‘utterly ashamed’ of the ‘dishonour and disgrace’ she had brought on her family.
A Thomas Cook spokesman said: "The sentence handed down today demonstrates how serious the issue of fraudulent illness claims has become.
"This is a particularly sobering case but reflects what is going on across the UK travel industry, so we had to take a stand to protect our holidays and our customers from the minority who cheat the system.
"We hope it sends a clear message to holidaymakers across the UK that the consequences for lying about their experience abroad could be very serious."
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Bev
Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.
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