Disability/Food Don't Get Done in the Sun

Every year, millions of us jet off abroad on holiday.

But if things go wrong, your two weeks in the sun

could quickly become a fortnight to forget.

And there are many things that can ruin your precious break,

from cancelled flights to horror hotels.

We were arriving at the dining room to find dirty cutlery,

dirty napkins, dirty tablecloths.

Worse still, they are scams, tricks and cons

waiting to trap the unsuspecting tourist.

They're there to make money and get you in. If they don't get you in, they'll get somebody else.

But if you know what to look out for, you can avoid

these holiday nightmares, so we're here to make sure you...

Don't Get Done In The Sun.

On today's travel itinerary,

one disabled holidaymaker is left at the airport.

They said, we can't take you,

because we've already taken four parties that are disabled.

And another has her travel needs disregarded.

I went to the bathroom

and my wheelchair could not get through the door.

And I find out how not to be left with a bad taste in your mouth

when eating out on holiday.

The hotel buffet in the middle of the day

is a microbiological nirvana.

Getting on a plane and jetting off abroad is something most of us

take for granted, but if you're disabled, it's not always that easy.

And it's not just the flying bit that's tricky.

Things can get a whole lot worse once you arrive.

Joanne Kitching, a married mother of one, discovered just that.

Four years ago, she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis

and, within six months, she was having to use a wheelchair

and will be for the foreseeable future.

We've had no holidays

and I've actually spent two years of those four years in hospital.

So therefore, having a true family holiday break was very important to us.

I wanted a bit of downtime. Chill time.

I was hoping my wife would be able to enjoy some time

with my daughter, especially as she had been in hospital quite a bit.

For Joanne and her husband,

it was crucial that her special needs were catered to.

So she chose the security of booking through a large tour operator,

Thomson Holidays Ltd, part of the TUI group.

Joanne even dealt with their specialist customer welfare team.

It was two requirements that we asked from Thomson

when we actually went into the travel agents.

We just said it must be disabled friendly and must have a kids club.

We were very happy with the picture in the brochure

and also with what information had been passed on by Thomson

and the reassurances by welfare that there would be check-in

that was a disabled room.

We were confident that the criteria was met and it ticked all our boxes.

Thomson booked the holiday through their sister company,

First Choice, and it cost the family £3,478.

They flew out to Minorca in August 2012,

but problems arose as soon as they landed.

We were greeted by the First Choice rep,

who advised that we were on coach one.

That was when I felt my stomach slightly go.

I looked at her and said, "No, we have a disabled taxi booked."

The manager phoned their head office in London who advised that they

hadn't actually pressed the button to send the paperwork to him.

After waiting an hour and a half for an emergency taxi, then being

taken to their hotel, things just got worse when they saw their room.

I went to the bathroom

and my wheelchair could not get through the door.

It was not a disabled door.

Then, we realised there were no grab rails

or anything in that bathroom that would suggest it was disabled.

I had to send my husband to the reception

as this was clearly not a disable friendly room.

The Kitchings were advised to relax

and have dinner in the restaurant while an alternative room was found.

Once we went to the actual restaurant area,

what they had done, there were some steps going up

and they had put a plywood ramp up but that started to lift and as

I went up with the wheelchair, the little wheels at the front jammed.

It became apparent that this hotel,

there was no flat surfaces apart from around the pool area.

What they thought had been money well spent on a perfect holiday

was so far anything but,

as it didn't appear Joanne's needs had been taken into account at all.

A specialist tour operator, who is disabled himself, knows that

when it comes to finding the right accommodation, things can be tricky.

Give me an idea, if you would,

what somebody with mobility problems needs from hotel accommodation?

Basic access into the property itself and into the bedroom are a given.

You then obviously need to get access into the bathroom.

There will be others that will require grab rails

around toilets and showers areas.

It's very difficult sometimes to come up with a one size fits all solution.

After Joanne and David's various problems with the complex

came the icing on the cake.

The hotel advised us that they had not been

notified by Thomson's of a disabled person arriving at the complex.

So regardless of Joanne's hard work,

ensuring that the accommodation was suitable for the needs, none of

her essential requirements had even been received and she's not alone.

Doug Gardener had a similar experience with a different

travel agent when he took a holiday to Turkey with his family.

He was travelling with married relatives, David and Michelle,

who are both severely disabled, have trouble walking

and are looked after by carers.

When Doug booked, he requested adjoining rooms

so the carers could have easy access to the couple.

The accommodation had been divided up into two different accommodation blocks.

So what they had done is that they had put my brother-in-law

and his wife on the top floor in an apartment block in a room

and then, in the next building, they had put their carers.

He also asked that their rooms were near the main facilities.

The rooms were approximately 10 to 15 minute's walk from the main facilities.

And for a hotel with ramps and lifts available.

Neither of the accommodation blocks had any lifts or any

chairlifts or any facilities for the disabled.

All there was was two or three flights of marbled staircases

which they were expected to climb on a daily basis.

On complaining, the family were moved to a more accessible hotel

but it was of a lower standard than the one they had originally booked.

Two people campaigning to improve the situation for disabled people

who wish to travel safely and comfortably

are Paralympian Hannah Cockroft and her friend, Emily Yates.

Emily is preparing a travel guide

to specifically help those who want to go

to the Rio de Janeiro Olympics in 2016.

As far as travelling is concerned, going on holiday, how much

information is there out there for where might be accessible and not?

That's something, obviously,

with the real guide that I've been researching quite a lot.

There is very little.

I tried to book a holiday a couple of years ago to Madrid, I think it was,

and I found this hotel which was really beautiful.

It said that it was wheelchair accessible.

So by rule of thumb, I always ring up and check. That is just what I do now.

So I rang up this guy and he said, "Yes, it is wheelchair accessible".

"So no stairs at all?"

"No stairs at all, apart from the three going up to the elevator."

The mentality of what is accessible even, I think, needs to change.

After the bombshell that Joanne's hotel didn't know a disabled guest

was arriving, the hotel manager rectified the problem

by finding a disabled room and moving the family into it.

The hotel, I would say,

were very proactive in sorting out the issues as and when they arose.

However, should they have actually been there in the first place?

I completely agree and think this breakdown in communication

simply isn't good enough. But who is to blame?

What happens between you saying to the tour operator,

"I need this," and them saying yes, and you arriving

and it not being anything like you imagined it would be?

Obviously, they all operate in their own particular way.

But as a rule,

they will just allocate two people against a particular room type.

It's only when all of the various special requests are determined,

normally 48 hours before, that they will say to themselves,

"We have two persons here that have need for an adapted room.

"We need to change the room completely from the one

"in our allocation to one that obviously meets their needs."

Most tour operators, if you look in their booking editions,

simply state that they will request your facilities.

But as you can appreciate, in my situation,

a request is of no benefit whatsoever.

And without a doubt, Joanne feels the same.

On arriving home, I was so grateful to be home safe and wondering,

will I ever want to go on a holiday again

after the experience we had had?

Coming up later, another disabled traveller has his week in the sun ruined.

But this time, the problem isn't the hotel.

They said, "We can't take you because you are disabled."

Can I have a Pina Colada, please? Thank you.

Now, eating and drinking is one of our greatest pleasures when we are abroad.

So much so, that a quarter of our holiday money is spent on meals out.

For most people, food and drink is one of the most important parts of a holiday.

The food is paramount with me.

I like good quality food in a nice clean place.

The food is lovely.

Yes. You've got so many restaurants. You can pick and choose, really.

Whether we are eating from an all-inclusive buffet

or a restaurant in town, for the establishments food is big business.

And with so many of these outlets competing for cash,

some are prepared to cut corners.

In an all-inclusive, we have definitely seen them

just replenish the food, not change it.

-They just put a couple of fresh lettuce leaves.

-What's left from lunch in dinner.

That doesn't sound good. And to find out more, I've come to meet restaurant owner,

Peter McGibney, based here in Portugal for some inside information

on how to avoid pitfalls when it comes to food and drink abroad.

If you speak to people staying in an all-inclusive, it's like,

"It was turkey for lunch, it was turkey for dinner and I'm sure it was turkey for breakfast again."

If you look on the internet at this moment in time,

you will find seven nights here locally

for 40 euros per person per night.

23% of that goes to the government first.

The rest has to be divided between the hotel,

the flight and the tour operator.

So what are you going to get for your 40 euros a night?

If you go all-inclusive, it pays to pay more

and get the better quality of food because I think if you

go for a cheap and cheerful one, that's exactly what you get.

What are the kitchens like?

Do they have a proper chef who is in there cooking away?

A lot of these groups have a central kitchen.

They do the preparation and cooking.

They load everything and distribute it between their hotels.

-In effect, then, like a big ready meal?

-It is, yes.

So if you don't want to risk eating hotel ready meals every day,

consider venturing further afield.

But you still need to keep your wits about you.

There are loads of restaurants when you come away.

I'm walking along the road and somebody goes,

"Come and eat in here". And they tell me it's the best food in town.

You need to be very careful these days because a lot of them

are not telling the truth.

A lot of them are people in the street who are grabbing

people to come into a restaurant.

That is how they are making their living.

The good restaurants we know don't do a hard sell

because they don't need to.

Yep, don't be tempted by touts when eating out

because their restaurant may not be the best place to go.

And there are other ways to be burnt once you are through the restaurant door.

When you go to a restaurant here and bread is put in front of you

and better and olives, in fact, they may even be on the table

when you arrive, a lot of people will sit down and say,

"Oh, my goodness, this is great".

They tuck in and not realise they could be putting 20 euros on their bill.

Many restaurants abroad will add a cover charge

if you eat those tempting treats on the table

so, if you don't want them, ask for them to be taken away.

What are your thoughts on menus and restaurants with tonnes and tonnes of options?

You are running the risk of having something taken directly

from the freezer, defrosted, cooked and put on a plate in front of you.

So your food might not be fresh, leaving you with a very bad

taste in your mouth or maybe even food poisoning.

Later on, we find out how to avoid endangering your health

and where you stand legally when you fall ill.

Booking a holiday is easier than it's ever been.

In fact, if what you want is simple and straightforward, it can all

be done in a matter of minutes with just a few clicks of your mouse.

But as we've already seen, for people with disabilities

or other very specific needs, things are sadly a lot more complicated.

Brian Edwards, a retired plumber, lives in Porthcawl in Wales

and is registered disabled because of his arthritis.

I retired quite young because of the arthritis.

I've got my disabled buggy now.

If I want to go shopping in town, I do use it occasionally.

I try my best to walk as far as I can

because I think that does improve my health but it can be very painful.

Brian booked a holiday to Malta to visit friends in December 2012.

He used online tour operator Low Cost Holidays Ltd,

not to be confused with similar sounding companies.

He found a deal which included accommodation

and flights with Ryanair for £440.

Wanting to ensure they could cater to these needs,

Brian telephoned the travel agent to make the booking.

I told the person I was talking to,

"The thing is, I will need assistance at the airport

"and I am registered disabled."

She turned round and said, "That's no problem."

So that to me was a godsend.

I knew I had been taken care of them.

On Brian's departure date,

his son drove him 70 miles from Porthcawl to Bristol Airport

and left him in the capable hands of the Ryanair check-in staff,

ready to depart for sunny Malta.

I was there two and a half hours before the flight.

They ask you to be two hours, but my son took me

and he parked the car and we did everything in plenty of time.

But when Brian got to the check-in desk, he got a bit of a shock.

They said, "We can't take you because you are disabled.

"We have already taken four parties that are disabled and we are only allowed that."

So due to the airline's safety regulations,

they had reached their maximum allowance of disabled passengers.

Brian had no choice but to phone his son to collect him

and drive him the 70 miles back home to Porthcawl.

How airlines and airports cater to people with disabilities

is overseen by the Civil Aviation Authority.

I asked them about their industry's practices.

Are airlines able to impose their own restrictions

on the amount of people with reduced mobility

they are going to allow on to their planes?

The EU law is about access and what they are trying to do is make

sure there is access to air travel for those passengers with reduced mobility.

The one area where there is a caveat is regarding safety.

It does seem very easy for an airline to say,

it's all about safety, when in fact, what it smacks of is that airlines

have very fast turnovers now and they don't have the time to help.

The last thing we would want to see is an airline refuse access to a disabled passenger

because of reasons of turnaround and trying to get the aircraft turned around as quickly as possible.

But there are safety caveats and if the airline believes they can't board that passenger

because of safety reasons, they are entitled to do that.

Unhappy with the fact he was unable to board his flight,

Brian contacted Low Cost Holidays.

I phoned them and whoever it was was pretty rude

and she said you are not going to get your money back, full stop.

I said, "Well, it's not my fault. I did notify you."

She said, "You did not."

That's what I had.

But I did notify them that I was disabled

and I needed airport assistance.

Andy Wright, who runs a specialist travel agency,

knows exactly what the protocol is

for a disabled person needing assistance at the airport.

If you've told your tour operator

that you are someone with special needs,

whose responsibility is it to tell the airline?

Is it yours or is it theirs?

The tour operator should be passing that on.

You've told your first point of contact, the travel agent

or tour operator, and they are then to relate that information directly.

So it appeared Brian had done everything the right way.

But there had been some kind of miscommunication

between the operator and the airline.

The airline said Brian had not been booked a disabled seat

and safety regulations did not allow them to take another

wheelchair user on the plane as they had reached their quota.

Brian completely lost out on his holiday.

I had new Speedos as well!

But getting a seat is only part of the battle for disabled travellers.

Once at the airport, getting to the gate can also be a challenge.

So where can you turn to for help?

The best advice is look at the website for your departing

airport and find out who, they are known as PRMs,

persons with reduced mobility,

find out who the operator for the PRMs is at that respective airport,

the person that will actually be embarking and them disembarking them.

OK. So help is on hand at the airport as long as they know you are coming.

But on board, it can be a different matter,

as Hannah and Emily know only too well.

I was going to Dubai and I got really told off at Heathrow Airport

by this lady who, for some reason, didn't know I was travelling.

So I got on the flight, we managed to get on all right,

I had a bit of an argument with her, and we managed to get on.

I needed the toilet halfway through this flight.

It was a seven-hour flight. Who was not going to need a wee on a seven hour flight?!

"Do you have an ambulance chair to get to the toilet?"

"No, sorry, we don't."

All airlines should carry ambulance chairs, which are lightweight

foldaway wheelchairs, to enable disabled travellers to access the toilet easily.

But on being told there was none available,

Emily took matters into her own hands.

I crawled from my seat all the way down the aisle to the toilet.

You are incredibly good-natured about it

and you are having a laugh about it, but I mean,

the lack of dignity that is afforded you is shocking, isn't it?

-It is. The reason we laugh about it is because it happens so often.

-Yes.

I totally know how she feels because it's happened to me and my friends.

We are kind of, oh, that's just the norm, that's just amusing

because no-one has sorted that out yet.

Still to come, words of advice for disabled travellers

and we see what the travel companies have to say

about letting down their disabled customers.

Eating out on holiday is so fantastic.

There are loads of new flavours to try.

But how do we know what we've ordered won't end our holiday down the pan?

We've already heard how you need to keep your wits about you

when it comes to eating in hotels and restaurants abroad.

But you also need to be aware of health and safety issues.

I'm afraid it's all too easy for people to go abroad

and end up with a stomach upset.

Sometimes, it is simply unfamiliarity,

the fact that there you are in a hot country,

eating food you are simply not used to and your system isn't used to.

Often though, it is, I'm afraid, rather more serious.

You have picked up a bug of some sort.

I have never gone on holiday and not been ill off something.

The hygiene standards don't seem to be as high when you are abroad.

Philip Banks is a travel litigation lawyer

and his firm represent people who become ill overseas.

We see a whole range of illnesses related to poor food hygiene.

For example, salmonella,

which is contracted usually from poorly cooked chicken or eggs.

We have campylobacter, shigella, E.coli, which is a particular

problem with poorly cooked meat and poor handling procedures.

Certain strains of E.coli can go on and attack of the parts of the body

such as the kidneys or the brain and can even lead to death.

Yep, if your food isn't fresh or well-prepared,

it could cost you more than a bad tummy.

We've acted for a case in a hotel where

there were 1,000 people who were badly affected with an illness.

Another case, we recovered £2.5 million worth in terms of compensation.

We don't participate eating food that's been out probably

eight or nine hours in trays. What am I eating this evening?

Stuff that was left out at lunchtime. No.

Avoid the hotel buffet in the middle of the day,

which is a microbiological nirvana,

where all kinds of bugs can multiply under the tropical sun.

So what legal health and safety standards are in place

to protect us when we eat in hotels or restaurants abroad?

Any business which is serving food to a member of the public

within an EU-based country falls under EU legislation.

EU-based tour operators, if they are sending clients to countries

outside the EU, the EU legislation doesn't apply.

So there are the rules laid out, but that doesn't always mean you are safe.

Food poisoning can be caused from failing to comply with

basic procedures such as proper cooking of food, storage of food,

leaving food out, not having food properly refrigerated

and poor pest control, amongst various other things.

This can be a danger in many restaurants and even hotels abroad.

If standards start slipping at your hotel and you've booked

a package deal, the law states your tour operator is responsible.

But don't always rely on others to protect your own health and safety.

So if you remember those simple tips when choosing where and what

to eat, hopefully, your holiday would be ruined by nasty tummy troubles.

For people with disabilities,

travelling abroad can be unnecessarily difficult.

But there's really no excuse for it being that way.

In order to protect yourself, our expert has some sound advice.

There are quite a few organisations in place

which can help people with disabilities.

The most obvious one being ABTA,

the Association of British Travel Agents, who have got a very good reputation for getting

people's money back when they have had a disastrous experience.

There is also the Disability Holiday Guidebook,

which you can download, which is excellent.

It shows all the ranges of new, accessible trips.

Good to know. And crucially, all our experts agree that double

and triple checking every detail with your travel agent

or tour operator is key to ensuring a smooth holiday.

Brian Edwards lost out on a holiday to Malta

because his online travel agent, Low Cost Holidays,

had failed to inform Ryanair that he was disabled.

At the airport, he was told that Ryanair

had filled their quota of disabled passengers.

We asked the airline to comment on the situation

with Low Cost Holidays and they said...

We also asked Brian's travel agent, Low Cost Holidays Ltd, to comment and they have...

You want to make sure, especially after this ordeal,

you want to make sure they communicate with Ryanair

or whoever they are using as the transport or whatever,

to make sure that these things are signed and sealed.

Since our involvement, Low Cost Holidays have apologised

and sent a payment of £600 to Brian as a full refund on the holiday

plus compensation for extra expenses incurred.

And after booking a holiday to Minorca with Thomson,

Joanne Kitching and her family turned up at the hotel

to find they hadn't been told she had special needs.

The company sent a statement, saying that...

So although their customer welfare team didn't deliver

in Joanne's case, they are happy with the systems they have in place.

Nevertheless, they have now offered Joanne and her husband, David,

a 75% refund of the family's holiday.

I reluctantly accepted the offer

because it wasn't as important as the state of my health.

However, what I would like to do with my case is to make

holidaymakers for the future aware of what can happen

and hopefully to avoid the trap for somebody else that we fell into.

And lastly, Doug Gardener, whose family was placed

in an unsuitable hotel, has been refunded £726 by his travel agent.

This is the difference in price between what he booked

and where they were relocated to.

Hopefully, some lessons have been learnt by all the companies involved

and our cautionary tales will mean that you don't get done in the sun.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd.