A dad had his cruise cancelled and was banned from P&O for life after raising “safety concerns” about his trip.
Steve Kidd, 66, and his wife Elaine, 62, were due to fly via Maleth Aero to Antigua for a two-week P&O cruise later this month before the retired father-of-two’s concerns were raised.
His cancelled trip and subsequent ban came after Mr Kidd became involved in social media campaigning which used “incorrect information” and made threats to cancel future bookings.
Mr Kidd from Syderstone in Norfolk initially raised concerns to P&O over flying with Maleth Aero, after one of its chartered flights flew through “freak turbulence”, allegedly without pre-warning, resulting in one passenger breaking her neck in December last year.
The pair say they were only told they would be flying with the company after they’d paid the full total of their £2,994 holiday cost.
Mr Kidd joined a number of Facebook groups, which detailed safety concerns and other alleged problems regarding the airline that P&O began working with last year.
In an email from P&O, the firm informs him “it is thus no longer appropriate for you to travel with us” before telling him he will receive a refund for his booked cruise and any future bookings will be barred.
The cruise company says Mr Kidd threatened to cancel and not book future cruises, as well as organising a “mass deputation” at the firm’s head office to protest against the contract with Maleth if he didn’t “receive the remedy” he was seeking.
It said he had peddled “incorrect information” seen on social media, adding it felt it was “unfair” for staff to have to deal with him.
Mr Kidd estimates he has spent about £10,000 on holidays with P&O and does not believe he has done anything to deserve being banned.
He told the Mirror: “I did bombard them with a lot of screenshots from what people were saying on Facebook and said ‘is this acceptable? Comments please’.
“I’ve done nothing malicious, I have suggested P&O should hold their heads in shame, the way they’re treating people and that they’re a disgrace to the travel industry, but I’ve made no malicious threats to anybody to do with P&O and Maleth.
“I’ve basically conveyed to them what people are thinking about and relaying my own concerns about the safety of this airline that they were going to put me on.”
Following the incident P&O told Mrs Kidd she was welcome to rebook if she wished despite her husband’s ban.
A P&O Cruises spokesman told the Mirror: “This matter relates to the conduct of a potential customer where P&O Cruises took the view that the relationship had irretrievably broken down between the parties.
“We therefore cancelled the booking and issued a full refund.”
