A Nottingham dad has told how he nearly took his own life and now faces debts of £25,000 after Jet2 accused him of lying about falling ill while on holiday. Karl Hughes has endured years of legal fighting with the holiday firm.
It brought civil proceedings for an alleged false claim - after he and his wife Laura sought compensation when they allegedly suffered from food poisoning on a Lanzarote break in 2016. Jet2 urged a judge to find the couple guilty of contempt of court in civil proceedings - meaning they could have been jailed for up to two years and handed a massive fine.
Despite successfully defending themselves in the legal battle, Karl has been left emotionally and financially battered. He said the "legal trauma" lasted nearly six years and has left him tens of thousands of pounds out of pocket.
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"It has been five-and-a-half years of hell," the karate instructor told 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 three children and two of their grandparents for a ten-day, £6,000 Christmas break in 2016. But the festive holiday soon took a turn for the worse when the mum and dad began feeling ill having only eaten at the hotel, they claim.
A bad bout of gastroenteritis laid them out for the week, causing them to spend much of the trip in bed and being sick, Karl alleged. After the family had returned to their Nottingham home following the "queasy" break, 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. Jet2 rejected the family's complaints on the basis that Karl had posted photos of them seemingly enjoying themselves on Facebook during the holiday.
Around a year later, Karl and Laura were contacted by a legal aide for Jet2 accusing them of making false claims and bringing civil proceedings for contempt of court. The couple did not pursue their complaint after their solicitor ceased to represent them for contractual reasons.
The application also 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, including one in 2018 when a judge ruled that his court had no jurisdiction over the case - which was later overturned on appeal.
Laura and Karl had not opposed Jet2's legal application in person because they claimed they couldn't afford more time with their lawyers to do so, instead submitting a skeleton argument from the previous hearing which the court took into account. The judges would rule they had to pay Jet2's legal fees for the appeal and previous hearing.
Jet2 won the subsequent appeal, with Lord Justice Hamblen ruling that witness statements the couple had stated were true, made about the holiday in response to Jet2's contempt application could be considered in contempt proceedings. The appeal victory meant that Jet2 was legally able to accuse the couple in the civil courts of contempt of court, which could have seen them jailed for two years.
At the time, Stephen Heapy, chief executive of Jet2, made it clear how big an impact this case could have on the future of legal claims from some Brits 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 suspicion that Jet2 saw the case in part as a way to warn away other holidaymakers from making compensation requests. "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." After the appeal hearing, Jet2's lawyers presented the couple with a bill of close to £30,000, for some of the firms' legal costs, to be paid on Christmas Eve.
"As you can imagine this devastated us," Karl said. "We had no idea what to do and went into Christmas feeling like our whole world had fallen apart."
Over the years, the case and the prospect of being sent to prison while having three teenage children has hung over them both like a dark cloud. "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."
At the beginning of March 2022, the case - which had been pushed back twice during the coronavirus lockdowns - was finally heard at Derby District Registry. Her Honour Judge Coe QC dismissed the claims and ordered Jet2 to pay some of the Hughes' legal costs for the final hearing.
She ruled that the travel firm had failed to prove the relevant 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 merely an exaggeration rather than a lie.
Despite the findings and the fact some of the costs were set aside, the couple are still required to pay some of Jet2's legal costs for the appeal hearing, meaning they remain swamped in more than £25,0000 of debt. While the application against them was dismissed, Karl fears that their case serves as a precedent for Jet2 and other holiday firms to go after some other holidaymakers 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 spokesperson 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 per cent. 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 and 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."
Samaritans are available 24/7 if you need to talk. You can contact them for free by calling 116 123 or emailing jo@samaritans.org
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