A WOMAN who believes she caught pneumonia from a filthy apartment on a Club 18-30 holiday has been stung with a £3,300 medical bill – despite claiming to be insured.
Amy Evans returned home in a WHEELCHAIR from a “nightmare” stay in Ayia Napa, Cyprus, which saw her spend four nights in hospital after sleeping in a bedroom allegedly covered in mould, dried blood and vomit.
The 21-year-old says she fell ill after reps from tour operator Thomas Cook failed to provide her with new accommodation despite repeated complaints – and on Monday received a mammoth bill for her treatment.
She and four pals had paid £780 each for the week-long girls’ holiday in August, but poorly Amy had to take six weeks off work after returning and now faces a struggle to foot the hospital bill.
Amy, a business manager for McDonald’s from Aberdeen, Scotland, said: “As if it wasn’t enough to ruin my holiday, I’ve been seriously ill for the last three months and now they’re claiming my insurance didn’t cover me.
“Before I went away I was healthy and now I’m in hospital every other week and I need to take six different inhalers because my breathing is so bad.
“I showed doctors pictures of our apartment and they said that was the reason I’d become ill.
RELATED STORIES
“It was just disgusting. The room was absolutely vile and no matter how much we complained, nothing was done.
“One of the girls just booked a flight and went home after two days. It was that bad. We stayed on to try to make the best of a bad situation, and I ended up in hospital.
“When we arrived at night there were only two lightbulbs working in the room so we couldn’t see the extent of the mould until the next day.
“We went straight to reception and asked to be moved but they said it was a matter for the Thomas Cook reps because that’s who we used to book it. We just kept getting fobbed off.”
Amy booked the holiday last year through the Thomas Cook office at the Bon Accord Centre in Aberdeen along with friends Jessica Logue, 21, Bethany Allen, 20, Sophie Watt, 20, and Daria Lichodziejewska, 21.
They flew from Glasgow to Larnaca on August 3 but said their stay was marred by problems with the apartment and Thomas Cook staff.
Amy said: “Our welcome meeting was basically just the reps demanding money off us. We tried to talk to them about the room but all they wanted was €260 for a ticket to some party.
“They just ignored us and tried to bully us into buying them. They were very forceful. They called one of my friends ‘too manly’ and made fun of us for being Scottish.
“They could see the condition of the room but they didn’t care. One of them was in our room for 35 minutes and I can honestly say it was the worst 35 minutes of my life.
“We asked to speak to the manager but nobody would take responsibility. On the third day, Jess left as she was the only one who could afford to book new flights home.
“I developed cold and flu symptoms and it was really stressful. By the point Jess left I was really ill and had to go to hospital.
“The doctors said I had pneumonia from breathing in the mould spores and bacteria from the blood and sick. I stayed there until two hours before our flight back to Scotland.
“I phoned the apartment reception and told them it was their room that brought on the pneumonia.
“It was as if it hadn’t been cleaned since the last people had stayed there, possibly longer. There were cockroaches crawling out of the wardrobe.
“It was only after that that the other girls got a new room. The entire holiday was awful and I’m very upset.
“My breathing was so weak they had to put me on the flight home in a wheelchair with special assistance.”
Amy complained to Thomas Cook and received £1,500 compensation on September 9 – £1,000 for her illness and £100 per person for the group’s accommodation problems.
But on October 31, Thomas Cook’s insurers White Horse Insurance Ireland sent her an itemised bill from a Cypriot hospital asking her to pay €3,647 (£3,377).
Amy claims that her asthma was cited as the reason she wasn’t covered yet says when she took out the insurance policy with Thomas Cook she informed them of her asthma numerous times.
She said she was “sickened” by the demand.
A spokesperson from Thomas Cook said “Nothing is more important to us than the safety and wellbeing of our customers. We are in contact with Miss Evans about her hotel stay and insurance claim.”
We pay for your stories! Do you have a story for The Sun Online news team? Email us at tips@the-sun.co.uk or call 0207 782 4368