Holidaymakers were entitled to be treated as human beings and not as sardines, a judge said yesterday when he awarded a woman £15,000 damages against Corona Holidays Ltd.
Judge Liam Devally was told in Dublin Circuit Civil Court that a 56-year-old fashion saleswoman, Ms Mairead O'Loughlin, injured her right index finger in the guiderail of automatic doors on a bus. Ms O'Loughlin of Elgin Road, Ballsbridge, Dublin, told her counsel, Mr Eoin Fannon, that the accident happened while she was travelling to the terminal from an aircraft on the apron of Las Palmas Airport.
"We were packed in like sardines and I had to stand in the stairwell," she said. "There was nothing else to hold on to when the bus jolted forward."
Mr Martin Hayden, counsel for Corona Holidays, submitted that his client had no function in the management and control of Las Palmas Airport and was not liable for the accident.
Judge Devally said the duty of care owed to all Corona holidaymakers was not suspended simply because the tour firm took the view it had no function in transporting tourists from an aeroplane to an airport terminal.
The Supreme Court had held recently, in a holiday case, that the duty of care extended to all matters concerning the safety, well-being and comfort of the tourists, which would or should be known to the tour operator.
Judge Devally said that Ms O'Loughlin's finger was trapped while attempts were made to release it and she had to have eight stitches.
He said the provision of adequate bus services was crucial to the success of a holiday trip. The conditions which applied in Ms O'Loughlin's case were horrifying.
A friend of Ms O'Loughlin, who saw the attempts to free her finger, told the court she expected to see Ms O'Loughlin's finger fall on the bus floor when it was released.