Wood v TUI Food Poisoning Case

Mr and Mrs Wood booked a two week holiday, to celebrate their fortieth wedding anniversary, departing from Gatwick Airport on 30 March 2011 and returning a fortnight later. The price was paid in advance. First Choice agreed to provide or arrange return flights to the Dominican Republic, transfers to the hotel, accommodation together with the board element described as ‘all inclusive’. That meant that all food and drink would be provided by the hotel without Mr and Mrs Wood being responsible for paying anything for it locally.

While at the hotel both Mr and Mrs Wood became ill with gastroenteritis caused by a bacterial infection. The judge in the County Court held that this was caused by food consumed in the hotel and held First Choice liable under the 1982 Supply of Goods and Services Act for supplying goods, namely the food, which were not of satisfactory quality. This liability was irrespective of whether the hotel was at fault or not.

First Choice appealed to the Court of Appeal on a technicality i.e. the Act did not apply because no property (ownership) in the food had passed from First Choice to the Woods. If this was the case then the strict liability provisions of the Act would not apply and there could only be liability if the claimants could prove that the the food was negligently prepared. The Court of Appeal clearly had no sympathy with this argument as can be seen from this passage:

“The provision of holidays, hotel accommodation, and weekend breaks or even casual stops at a bed and breakfast, often include an entitlement to food and drink within an overall price. Such contracts are made millions of times a year in this jurisdiction. We too have enjoyed submissions of a metaphysical nature which might surprise the many thousands of customers who enjoyed breakfast, perhaps with orange juice, tea or coffee, in their hotels or guest houses every morning in this jurisdiction or the world over as part of package holidays. Do they ever own the food and drink they are served? Do they own it when it is served to them on a plate? Do they own it when they serve themselves from a buffet? Do they own it when it is placed in their mouths? And who owns the scraps taken away at the end of a meal? Could a customer wrap a croissant from his plate in a napkin and eat it on the move if pressed for time, or would he be taking away the hotel’s property? Could the hotel demand he leave the half sausage on his plate that he does not want to eat, or is he at liberty to take it to give to his dog waiting in the car?

In my opinion … when customers order a meal property in the meal transfers to them when it is served. The same is true of a drink served by the establishment. That is so whether the transaction has no other components, for example in a restaurant or café, or the transaction provides other services, the most usual being accommodation. It is unreal to suppose, for example, that the pizza placed in front of a customer remains the property of the hotel or restaurant any more than the content of a glass of wine or lemonade could do so after it was served to a customer. The fact that the food and drink may be laid out in a buffet to which customers help themselves can make no difference. When the customer helps himself to the meal or pours himself a drink property in the fare becomes that of the customer.”

In accordance with longstanding principles the Court held that First Choice were liable under the Act for the quality of the food provided.

The full transcript of the case can be found on our website under ‘Resouces’ > ‘English Cases’

[Source: BAILII, 16 January 2017]

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