Sousse (Tunisia)
PFD Report
Historic (No Identified Response)
Ref: 2017-0206
Coroner's Concerns (AI summary)
Travel companies lacked board-level security advisors and failed to prominently display government travel advice, leaving customers potentially uninformed about terrorism risks in destination countries.
View full coroner's concerns
(1) I heard evidence that prior to the attack neither TUI nor other travel companies had security advisors on their boards. The evidence of a TUI witness was that “security was a matter for the accommodation hoteliers and providers”. I am informed that TUI now have such an advisor. However I remain concerned that if other companies do not have similar security advisors at board level then hotels which they use will not be adequately protected.
(2) I heard evidence that prior to the attack, TUI’s websites for Thomson and First Choice did not prominently display logos and links to the Government’s Travel Aware programme, which provides detailed travel advice for every country on the Foreign and Commonwealth Office website. I heard evidence that TUI have taken steps to change their website and promotional literature to make these logos and links more prominent. I remain concerned that other companies which sell holidays, or sell flights and hotel accommodation separately, may not have taken such steps, as a result of which members of the public receive insufficient information about the risks of terrorist attacks in destination countries.
(2) I heard evidence that prior to the attack, TUI’s websites for Thomson and First Choice did not prominently display logos and links to the Government’s Travel Aware programme, which provides detailed travel advice for every country on the Foreign and Commonwealth Office website. I heard evidence that TUI have taken steps to change their website and promotional literature to make these logos and links more prominent. I remain concerned that other companies which sell holidays, or sell flights and hotel accommodation separately, may not have taken such steps, as a result of which members of the public receive insufficient information about the risks of terrorist attacks in destination countries.
Sent To
- Civil Aviation Authority
- Department for Transport
- Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office
Response Status
Linked responses
0 of 4
56-Day Deadline
31 Aug 2017
About PFD responses
Organisations named in PFD reports must respond within 56 days explaining what actions they are taking.
Source: Courts and Tribunals Judiciary
Report Sections
Investigation and Inquest
On 3 July 2015 an investigation commenced into the death of 30 British nationals killed in Sousse on 26 June 2015. Their names are: Christopher Bell Sharon Bell Lisa Burbidge Scott Chalkley Stuart Cu lien Suzanne Davey Christopher Dyer Adrian Evans Charles Evans Angela Fisher Raymond Fisher Lisa Graham William Graham Philip Heathcote Trudy Jones Carly Lovett Ann McQuire James McQuire Stephen Mellor Joel Richards John Stollery Janet Stocker John Stocker Eileen Swannack David Thompson Denis Thwaites Elaine Thwaites John Welch Bruce Wilkinson Claire Windass The investigation concluded at the end of the Inquests on 28 February 2017. The conclusion of the Inquests was that each of the thirty victims was killed on the morning of 26 June 2015 by a terrorist armed with a high velocity firearm and improvised explosive devices, when that terrorist began shooting at tourists on the beach and inside the grounds of the Imperial Marhaba Hotel in Sousse in the Republic of Tunisia. Twenty nine of the victims were killed by a gunshot wound or wounds when the terrorist opened fire. One victim, Stuart Cuilen, was killed as a result of blast-generated fragments as well as being shot by the terrorist. Each victim sustained the fatal injuries in the hotel grounds, inside the hotel or on the hotel’s beach
Circumstances of the Death
The circumstances of the deaths are described in the narrative conclusion above.
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Data sourced from Courts and Tribunals Judiciary under the Open Government Licence.