A model and her husband have been labelled ‘dishonest’ by as judge who was shown Facebook photos of them enjoying their holiday in Cyprus when they had claimed to be suffering from gastric illness.
Rachelle Noon, 28, and her husband Karl, 31, were seeking £4,000 in compensation from Thomas Cook but were instead ordered to pay the operator’s costs of £2,278 at Liverpool County Court.
Cook’s lawyers found Facebook photographs of the couple laughing and smiling on a ‘party bus’ at the time they were supposed to be ill from food poisoning at the Anastasia Beach Hotel in Protaras, Cyprus.
District Judge Jenkinson said Noon had been acting like a “party animal” on the week-long holiday and called the couple’s claim, launched nine months after their 2015 holiday, as “dishonest”.
Mrs Noon said she was “putting on a brave face” for the camera and Mr Noon said he was not drinking and holding a glass of champagne to be polite.
The Mail Online reported that Mrs Noon was crowned Miss United Kingdom Supranational in 2011.
Travel Weekly’s Fight Fake Claims campaign launched in June to help the travel industry crack down on false and exaggerated holiday sickness claims after Abta reported a 500% rise in claims.
Thomas Cook has now defended five sickness claims in court; four of the claimants, including the Noons, were judged to be “fundamentally dishonest”.
A spokesman said: “It’s clear that the courts are now well aware of the level of dishonesty there is in the holiday illness claims that we and others in the industry have received.
“The sheer volume of claims has meant that we’ve felt it necessary to defend ourselves, in court if necessary, from the minority of holidaymakers who try to cheat the system. We urge anyone who’s uncertain about their claim to get in touch with their law firm and withdraw it.”
