The package holiday specialist hopes to announce “similar cross-border partnerships” with authorities in other destinations.
At the meeting, held in Majorca late last month, Jet2holidays discussed plans to curb the actions of dishonest “touts” with the MoJ, representatives of the Mallorca Hotel Business Federation, the Guardia Civil police force and the national police commissioner on the island.
It was decided that information on individuals engaged in “touting and creating false sickness claims” collected by police in Majorca and the Guardia Civil would be sent to Europol, which would then pass the intelligence on to British police and the MoJ.
Jet2holidays said it hoped the new “international approach” would help undermine the ongoing problem with false sickness claims, warning that the UK was becoming known as the “fake sick man of Europe”.
The new strategy will allow fraudulent activity perpetrated in Spain to be investigated in the UK and will pave the way for the MoJ to take action against CMCs and law firms deemed to be pursuing false illness claims.
A Jet2holidays spokesperson said: “We will continue to do everything we can to stamp it [false sickness claims] out, and we are confident that news like this will see honesty prevail.”
An MoJ spokesperson added: “We are absolutely clear that any type of fraudulent behaviour will not be tolerated.
“Tackling fraudulent claims is a key priority, and the Claims Management Regulator has taken significant steps to clean up this area.”
The agreement comes after TTG revealed last October that meetings with Abta had caused the UK government to recognise the “dramatic increase” in holiday illness claims against travel agents and operators as a “real issue”.
UK and Spanish police join forces to purge false sickness claims
Register for free to continue reading
Get unlimited access to the latest travel industry news and analysis, comment on articles and sign up to newsletters.
Register for free
Already registered? Login here or below.
Having difficulty logging in? Try these tips, or contact support@ttgmedia.com