Olive Lounge Travel in Crosshills, North Yorkshire, curated the content for the leaflet in consultation with Go Travel agent Sue White, whose daughter Simone White died of methanol poisoning in Laos last November. The agency then asked its consortium, Global Travel Group, to design it for them.
The team now has copies of the double-sided flyer on hand for clients to take away, and have dropped some off at a local college, while some recent clients even packed one to take with them to Thailand. You can see the flyer at the foot of this story.
Gillian Polyhos, owner and co-founder of Olive Lounge Travel, came up with the idea after seeing Sue White appear on the TV alongside 23-year-old Calum Macdonald, another Brit who was left blind after drinking alcohol at the same hostel as Simone.
Macdonald is now working with the families of three other British people who died following methanol poisoning in southeast Asia, including Sue White. They are calling on the Foreign Office to be clearer about the dangers people face when booking holidays in countries where methanol poisoning is a risk.
“I feel that as an industry, we could have a massive impact on this campaign for Sue and all the other families that have been affected,” said Polyhos, pointing out that it’s not only in southeast Asia that tainted alcohol can be a problem, but Europe too.
“We do need to shout about it, though. Even just from listening to our customers when they see the leaflets, there is very little knowledge of the risks of methanol poisoning abroad.”
'Working together, we can protect people'
Polyhos got in touch with Sue White to see what Olive Lounge Travel could do to help. She fed back that the main messages to get across are how to recognise the symptoms of methanol poisoning, the importance of getting help as soon as possible and the need to be vigilant when drinking abroad, including how any unsealed drinks could have been tampered with.
These factors form the main messaging on Olive Lounge’s leaflet. “We believe that by working together, we can help protect people and prevent the life-altering consequences of this issue,” said Polyhos. “If our efforts help even one person, it will have been incredibly worthwhile.”
A Facebook group has been set up by Simone White’s family and friends to raise awareness of methanol poising.
There are also two petitions on the issue – a national one for the UK government entitled Put the dangers of methanol poisoning on the school curriculum, as well as a global one on Change.org entitled Put methanol safety warnings in airports and schools.
More information on methanol poisoning abroad, including how to spot it and how to reduce the risks, can be found on the government’s Travel Aware advice pages.
(Credit: Olive Lounge Travel)
(Credit: Olive Lounge Travel)
