THE solicitor representing victims of Thomson’s
1999 Gerona air crash has warned that a Spanish investigation into
the accident may not reveal required answers.
Hugh James solicitor Mark Harvey described crash
survivors’ initial reaction to the report by the
Investigating Authority in Spain as “disappointment”.
The report was confidentially unveiled to survivors at an Air
Accidents Investigation Branch meeting ahead of its official
publication next week.
Harvey said: “Initial reaction from people at the meeting seems
to be disappointment. Many of the answers people were looking for
don’t appear to have been given.
They want to know from Britannia and the Spanish authorities
what went wrong and why they were left for so long without
assistance after the accident. An explanation as to why the report
has taken five years to produce also doesn’t seem to be
forthcoming.”
The Britannia Airways Boeing 757 crashed in September 1999 while
attempting to land at Gerona in storm conditions. It hit the runway
nose wheel first, veering off and breaking into three pieces.
Passengers waited for more than an hour to be rescued.
An interim report by the UK Air Accident Investigation Report
said a warning light in the cockpit, which meant the aircraft was
coming in too steeply, was ignored.
At a court hearing last November Thomson – now owned by
TUI – was told it must compensate passengers for
psychological and physical damage (Travel Weekly December 1 2003).
Judge Graham Jones said the company did not have to claim
negligence.
As employees, cabin crew need to prove fault on behalf of
Thomson to recover injury compensation. Britannia refused to
comment until the report is published.
n TUI remained tight-lipped over possible takeover talks after
major shareholder German WestLB decided to sell its 31% stake.
Under German rules a stakeholder with 30% of a listed company must
make a full takeover bid. Spanish hoteliers, including Barcelo,
which owns 22% of First Choice, are rumoured to be lining up a
bid.