Not sure they did - hence the litigation, watchdog investigation and general hullabaloo.

Frankiec - did you get any joy from First Choice?

Just had this sent from FC pre travel by e-mail...

I have been following about the Holiday village since we spoke yesterday. I have been advised that I cannot get this information but that I can confirm from our side that it is being controlled and monitored and that there are no new cases of this. If you are still requiring the information you were inquiring to yesterday it is something that will need to be followed up with our legal team to see where we stand with giving this information, I am prepared to get in contact with them to follow this up but it make take a few days for me to get a response back to you.

The info i required about was
When was the last case of illness reported?
How many were affected?
HOW MANY WERE AFFECTED?

I've responded with...

Thanks for your response, Loretta, i have just spoken to a supervisor, Michelle and explained my concerns to her. I have asked her to contact the legal dept too. The information 'from your side' is one sided and doesn't even acknowledge the number of people who were taken to hospital, or had to make their own way there. If there are no problems or no health concerns at the Rhodes HV, there should be a swift reply to me confirming this and we can all stop worrying and enjoy the holiday our party of 6 have paid over £7k for.
Please follow it up on my behalf and also bear in mind the necessity for speed in this instance, as we are flying out early on Saturday.
Regards,

Frank

I'll update when i get a further response.

Sounds very much like a problem exists to me - all talk of needing to take advice from their legal team etc suggests it is not solved.

I shall be interested by what we get back. I have been promised answers by tomorrow at the latest.

I agree. If there are no problems, put it in writing FC.

Just had a courtesy call back from Michelle (supervisor pre travel) and she gave me some further info after making inquiries. She said the numbers taken to hospital were around 50 and of them, a couple were kept in and put on a drip due to dehydration. She said this was only a courtesy call and she was waiting for a statement from someone in the legal team and would e-mail it to me as soon as it was passed to her. She also said she had spoken to Tracy, the manageress? at the HV and she confirmed there had been no new cases for a number of days.

Frankiec - this sounds encouraging? The facts in your courtesy call seem to tally with the reports in the SUnday Mirror as far as I can see. Tracy is the Manager of the Holiday Village.

Lets hope this is an isolated incident.

I hope you and your family enjoy a happy and 'run' free holiday.

Jonathan

Trust me - more than 50 people went to hospital. I find it absolutely appalling that FC can lie about serious health issues.

Also, many people were home when they became ill so the amount of people taken to hospital in Rhodes is pretty much irrelevant.

I don't know of any room in deluxe & relax unaffected by this illness. I do however know there was an entire block in relax area where EVERYONE was affected on Friday 16th July. FC are aware of this.

My son and I, my son's friend and his parents, the family next to us, the family in the room above us, the "runners'" parents and daughters, a family of 3 we met, 2 families from Gretna.... That's 27 already.

My advice - don't believe a word that FC say. All the staff are being directed by head office to lie through their teeth. Appalling!

I have sent an e-mail asking for the following;

What results have proved negative?

What results do you await and what is the expected date for receiving these results?

How many stool samples have you sent for analysis?

What results do you have for any blood samples provided?

How many blood samples were sent for analysis?

How many people have been affected by this illness?

What is the normal duration of the illness? I'm still ill even though I first experienced the horrible symptoms on Friday 16th July. My son seemed better on Friday 23rd July. It certainly did not affect us for only 24-48 hours.

What steps have been taken at site to ensure other customers are not affected?

Are you able to supply all sites with proper containment procedures which should be implemented without having to wait for FC head office authorisation?

What procedures do First Choice have for customers arriving at a resort where there is sufficient evidence to support a theory that there's a huge possibility of them falling ill? Should customers be made put at risk purely for cost purposes? People with an already suppressed immune system can become seriously ill with this type of illness.

LHF - therein lies the problem - until a real problem is admitted to and they close the resort we will all be forced to go. My daugther is immuno-surpressed through a medical condition - so I am very worried.

We are due to go in 3 weeks time.

I would not take an immuno-sopressed child to this resort at present.

I'm sure First Choice will change your booking if you can prove your child's suppressed immunity.

When my son was aged 2 he was very ill and was tested for CF and various cancers. After many tests and months his illness was diagnosed with various "gastroenteritis" type illnesses. He had no immune system to fight them. I thought he was going to die. 9 years later he still has the after effects of picking up these illnesses.

I'm overly worried about these type of illnesses and understand that other people just see them as part of everyday life. This, of course, is very true. But why take risks?

Change to Sensatori in Crete, it's very nice though probably a bit more expensive than HV Rhodes

I emailed the press office at FC this morning (even though it's meant to be for "media") and received the following response:

Thank you for your email regarding the Holiday Village in Rhodes.

I do apologise for you being unable to secure a response regarding the
reported sickness to date, and I thank you for allowing me the
opportunity to address your concerns.

Please be reassured that the health and safety of our customers is of
paramount importance to us and we take all reports of illness seriously.
I can confirm that on 15th July a number of customers at the Holiday
Village in Rhodes reported illness however this was an isolated incident
and since the 15th July no other customers have reported any illness.
Following the reported sickness a full inspection of the hotel was
undertaken and we can confirm that the inspection did not highlight any
issues with the health and safety or hygiene processes at the Holiday
Village.

First Choice has robust processes and preventative hygiene procedures in
place at all its properties to ensure that the strictest health, safety
and comfort levels are maintained. As soon as we were alerted to these
cases of illness, enhanced hygiene procedures designed to mitigate the
further spread of infection were implemented in addition to the measures
already in place. We still have a consultant in situ at the hotel who is
further investigating the cause of this isolated incident of illness.
Their investigation is ongoing, and until such a time as they have
clearly identified the exact cause, First Choice is not in a position to
speculate with regards to its nature at this time. Although any level of
illness is most unwelcome we are confident that this is an isolated
incident and should not affect the enjoyment of your forthcoming
holiday.

We can confirm that for all customers due to travel to this hotel normal
booking conditions do apply.

I sincerely hope that the above information provides some reassurance to
you, and alleviates any concerns you may have regarding your forthcoming
holiday to Rhodes. I would like to take this opportunity to thank you
for allowing me the opportunity to address your concerns further.

If we can be of any further assistance please do not hesitate to contact
us.

I'm still unsure what to make of the situation - it does seem to me that the problems do seem to be improving / subsiding, but like many of you, are looking for formal confirmation of 1) what the problem is/was 2) what checks were carried out and by who/m 3) what confirmation exists that the problem has been resolved.

My family and I are due to travel on Saturday 31st - and will just need to keep an eye on things over the next day or so. We tried looking for alternative holidays last night - but there's not much available.

So , according to FC only on 15th july were people taken ill.Its now 11 days later & their ' experts ' still dont know the cause.
Why has this complex not then been shut down !!!
Answer is money

I'm so angry. Fc arranged 2 ambulances for my family on 17th. Do they think we're idiots? 2 days later they offered substantial compensation. I think you should contact your mp. This is nothing short of criminal

Have you and your child had blood and stool samples with your GP over here yet, LHF?

Gp submitted stool samples but is not hopeful that they'll provide an answer as the doc in Rhodes put me on really strong antibiotic. The hospital took blood but we don't have any results yet.

My group is due to travel here at the start of September, does anyone know if this illness should have cleared up by then ???

MGL,
If First Choice knew what the cause was and treated it, then yes, the resort will be perfectly safe. However, FC are playing silly beggars just now and potentially putting peoples lifes at risk. To fix this is gonna cost money, either through lost bookings or labour as they need to either thoroughly sterilise the complex or decant for a couple of weeks to allow the problem bacteria to dissipate. I'm still not 100% sure what caused the initial outbreak but I can be pretty certain the continual drip of cases is being caused because they won't close the HV.
As for my sterilise comment, I must say that this was not a dirty complex(it shouldn't be if it's months old) and the experience we had with the cleaning team was nothing but positive but we are dealing with a biological problem here, the only way to solve it is to kill it or starve it.

How many people would you say went to seek medical treatment, John?

Hi,

I've now had a further update from Carl (FC "complaints" chap who's out at the complex) and he's given me the same steer as I received from the Press Office (see my earlier post). He's still insisting that no new cases of illness have been reported to FC since the 17th July - so given some of the previous posts suggest this not to be the case - I can only think that either people haven't formally told FC of their illness or it's a total cover-up by FC. Not a nice thing to have to make a decision over - no reason to disbelieve anyone !! Still all very puzzling.