British tourists always seem to be getting sick on their vacations to southern locales and they always seem to be battling with tour operators.

In 2003, a bunch went to Baulo Hotel in Majorca and contracted either salmonella from poorly prepared food or cryptosporidium from the swimming pool.

In 2006, the claimants initiated legal action.

Today a judge ruled that one of the UK’s largest tour operators should have warned holidaymakers about an outbreak of illness at a Spanish resort.

The judge said that Thomson, which is now part of the larger European Tui group, was liable for damages.

In what may have wider implications for the travel industry, the judge also ruled that Thomson ought to have warned guests about the outbreak at the hotel before they travelled, in order to give them an opportunity to either rebook or cancel, but had failed to do so.

Thomson accepted its liability in the salmonella cases, but argued that in the cases of cryptosporidium, it could not have done more to get rid of the illness from the resort, adding,

"We are very disappointed with the decision as we sincerely believe that we did everything in our power to safeguard our customers’ wellbeing at the time."

The company said the real winners would be "the ‘no win no fee’ solicitors involved."