A British couple are taking legal action against travel agent First Choice, after their £4,000 honeymoon trip was ‘ruined’ when the wedding party was taken violently ill with food poisoning.

The Daily Mail reports that Kevin Sturman, 33, and fiancée Abbie Otter, 30, from Doncaster are suing First Choice over the two-week wedding trip, which left the best man on a drip and a pregnant bridesmaid ‘violently ill’ in hospital.

The Sturmans and their 22 guests stayed at the Holiday Village Hotel in Sarigerme, near Dalaman, Turkey and the bill for the party came to nearly £10,000, said Mr Sturman.

The wedding ceremony went ahead, despite the entire wedding party suffering from vomiting, gastroenteritis, diarrhoea and salmonella.

However, immediately following the ceremony, Mr Sturman's sister – 23-year-old bridesmaid Beckie Cooper, who was pregnant – was rushed to hospital. Ms Cooper spent two days in hospital being treated for gastroenteritis and dehydration.

Best man Aaron Morris, 33, spent a week in his hotel room attached to a drip, said Mr Sturman – who added that one of his bridesmaids collected 300 signatures from other hotel guests who were suffering from the same symptoms.

A writ has now been issued on behalf of the wedding party by a Manchester law firm, who said that First Choice had not admitted liability.

A spokesman for First Choice said:

'The Holiday Village Turkey is one of the biggest and most popular resorts in our programme. Whilst we accept that any level of sickness is unacceptable, the numbers of holidaymakers falling sick remains very low when the larger population is taken into consideration.’

Mr Sturman said, however:

'We all ate out for the second week because it wasn't safe to eat the hotel food – and that added to the cost. The hygiene standards were terrible, food wasn't cleared away and the swimming pools were filthy.

'Holiday from hell just about sums it up. We were all taken ill a few days after arriving – ranging from stomach upsets to vomiting, gastroenteritis, diarrhoea and salmonella.

'We were still ill when the wedding took place, but we just had to smile and get on with it. The holiday reps didn't seem to be bothered.’

The 22-strong wedding party is also now among a total of 659 holidaymakers suing travel agent First Choice for £6 million in compensation over alleged ruined holidays, according to the Daily Mail report.

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