A couple have been left £25,000 in debt by a five-year holiday compensation wrangle they say cost them their mental health and nearly their marriage.
Karl Hughes, from Nottingham, says he contemplated suicide as he faced the prospect of two years in jail for allegedly lying about having food poisoning on a Jet2 break to Lanzarote in 2016. The Mirror reports that he and wife Laura did not go through with their compensation claim, but the tour operators said they lied about being ill and tried to have them found guilty of contempt of court for making false statements.
The couple have now finally seen the contempt of court case thrown out by a judge, but they say they have been scarred by the ordeal and left with a mountain of debt. "It has been five and half years of hell," karate instructor Karl told The Mirror.
"My wife has been having mental health help. I've suffered depression and been suicidal. Being faced with prison is awful. Awful. They have spent a lot of money trying to put two people with kids in prison. We hate them.
"I would never go with them again. When a Jet2 advert comes on tv or the radio, I have a panic attack. I feel anxious and my heart races."
The saga began when Karl and Laura took their children and two of their grandparents for a 10-day, £6,000 Christmas break in the Canaries in 2016. A bad bout of gastroenteritis laid them out for the week, they said, causing them to spend much of the trip in bed and being sick, Karl alleged.
After the family, who say they had only eaten in their own hotel, returned home, they say they received a call from a legal firm asking if they'd like to make a compensation claim against Jet2.
A bundle of witness statements chronicling the claimed period of sickness, as well as online reviews of the hotel making claims about its health and safety procedures, were sent off to Jet2's lawyers. The company rejected the complaints on the basis that Karl had posted photos of them seemingly enjoying themselves on Facebook during the holiday.
Karl and Laura then did not proceed with the case after their solicitor ceased to represent them "for contractual reasons". But about a year later they were contacted by a legal representative for Jet2 accusing them of making false claims and saying they were bringing civil proceedings for contempt of court.
The application made the threat of being locked up clear, quoting a 2011 case in which a judge said: "Those who make such false claims, if caught, should expect to go to prison."
Three costly hearings followed, for which the Hughes family were ordered to pay Jet2's legal fees, and an appeal court judge ruled the couple's witness statements could be considered in contempt proceedings. At the time Stephen Heapy, the chief executive of Jet2, made it clear how big an impact he believed the case could have on the future of legal claims from holidaymakers who fall ill abroad.
He told news outlets that the "ruling should send a warning to others. If documents are found to contain false information, contempt of court proceedings can and will be brought". For Karl, this confirmed his long-held belief that Jet2 saw the case in part as a way to deter other holidaymakers from seeking compensation targets.
"My personal view is that Jet2 wanted to make an example of us and other people to stop any compensation claims happening, to scare them from making compensation claims," he said. "This is bigger than me and my wife."
The couple say the prospect of being sent to prison while having three teenage children has hung over them both like a dark cloud for years.
"My wife and I are both seeking therapy, it has put us through hell," Karl said. "We try and hide it from the kids but they've been affected.
"I had to borrow money from my dad to get solicitors and had to get an agreement to pay back £500 a month. I am a martial arts instructor and we shut down completely during lockdown. There have been times when I've considered taking my own life.
"I started drinking heavily and my wife became engrossed in work. We talked about separating because of this."
The threat of imprisonment was finally lifted when the case was finally heard at Derby District Registry this year. Her Honour Judge Coe KC dismissed the claims and ordered Jet2 to pay some of the couple's legal costs for the final hearing.
She ruled that the travel firm had failed to meet the burden of proof that the family were not unwell, and that their Facebook posts from the holiday did not disprove their illness. Judge Coe also found the family had complained about food being cold and insects landing on it at the time, and that their initial claims of being "acutely unwell" for nine days were an exaggeration rather than a lie.
Despite the victory, the couple remain liable for some of the costs of the case, and are swamped in more than £25,0000 of debt. And Karl fears the case is a precedent for holiday firms to go after holidaymakers who register a claim and "bury them in litigation and legal fees if they suspect even a small part of their statement to be untrue".
"We stood firm in our belief that we were telling the truth and even though we were terrified of what was happening to us we managed to do enough online research to find small glimmers of hope so that we could continue to push through and defend ourselves. My fear is that not everyone out there will be as resilient and may fold under financial and legal pressure."
A Jet2holidays spokesman said: “Between 2015 and 2018 the travel industry saw an enormous increase in the number of fake sickness claims, with claims spiking by up to 500%. Jet2holidays led the way to tackle this issue, robustly investigating and defending claims where necessary.
“In 2018 Jet2holidays was given permission by the courts to bring committal proceedings against Mr & Mrs Hughes. Although we are disappointed with this decision, we have no plans to challenge it and we are in discussion with the Hughes’ representatives regarding costs.”
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