Travel agents plan to lobby Government over apparent rise in fraudulent holiday illness claims

The Association of British Travel Agents (ABTA) has said that it has seen a “significant” increase in the number of gastric illness claims being made by holidaymakers and is planning to meet to the Government to discuss fears that many of them may be fraudulent.

The ABTA wants to meet with the Ministry of Justice to look at ways to control the rise in the number of claims made by those travelling abroad for their holidays.

According to The Law Society Gazette, the ABTA believes that claims management companies are targeting tourists while they are still on holiday to make claims. In some cases, CMCs are promising them damages of up to £5,000, which it says could be encouraging fraudulent claims.

The ABTA is now gathering evidence to present to the Ministry of Justice in the hope of ushering in new regulation into the travel industry.

The Law Society Gazette quoted a spokesperson for the ABTA who said: “An increasing number of these claims are unsubstantiated, and we believe this is being driven by the aggressive sakes practices of some claims management companies touting their services to holidaymakers either in destinations or in the UK.

“ABTA will be meeting with the MoJ, which regulates claims management activities, to highlight our concerns and to ensure it takes the necessary action to safeguard the system from fraudulent claims.”

Mark Dugdale