HC Deb 28 October 1975 vol 898 cc1552-62

2.17 a.m.

Mr. Walter Johnson (Derby, South)

I wish to raise the case of the tragic death of Nicola Baughan, aged 15, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Baughan, of Alvaston, Derby, my constituents.

The family went on holiday to Calella, Spain, on 20th July. After 10 days in Spain, on 1st August, Nicola, the daughter, was knocked down by a car when crossing the main road in Calella, and she was taken to a small hospital in the town. She was then transferred from that hospital to a larger hospital in Barcelona. After about one hour it was decided that no one there could treat the particular problem of Nicola and the injuries she sustained in the accident, and she was on the move again. This time she was taken to the Residencia Francisco Franco, outside Barcelona. The family were not allowed to leave until they had been presented with a bill and had given the home address in England and all the relevant detail to make sure that they could meet the expenses necessary.

They were told at this hospital that it would be necessary to perform a small operation on Nicola, and the mother realised, of course, that this was to be a hole drilled in the skull to relieve the pressure on the brain. Nicola was taken to the operating theatre some time after 5 p.m. After about two hours the operation was finished and Nicola was taken into the intensive care unit. The family were allowed to look at her for only a very short time through a window, and then the intensive care unit was shut up for the night.

Following this, various visits were paid, naturally, by the family to see the daughter. Eventually they saw the doctor, on Sunday 3rd August, and he explained that Nicola was very seriously injured and that the brain damage was extensive, but that her condition was not hopeless.

On Monday morning 4th August they visited the hospital again and spent two hours in the finance department sorting out who would be responsible for the bill. They saw Nicola for a few minutes, after which they were told to leave.

Mr. Baughan then had to return home because the holiday was over, and Mrs. Baughan was left alone. She went to the British consulate in Barcelona and saw a Mr. Bradley, who said that he would keep in touch. Mrs. Baughan received a telephone call from Mr. Bradley to the effect that the consulate would arrange for her to move from her holiday hotel to a hotel nearer the hospital, but, as an illustration of how everything went wrong, when Mrs. Baughan in her anxious and emotional state arrived at the hotel, no room was ready for her and the hotel provided no food.

Mrs. Baughan went back to the hospital, saw her daughter for about an hour and spoke to the doctor, who told her that Nicola's chances of survival were about three in 10. Mrs. Baughan returned to the hotel and arranged to move, so that she could be sure at least of getting food after returning from the hospital. On the next day she visited Nicola again and saw her daughter through the window, as usual.

There was no change in Nicola's general condition until Friday 8th August, when, on visiting the hospital once more, she found that Nicola was on a respirator. Naturally, she was very upset about this, so the nurse telephoned the doctor, who explained that Nicola's condition was not desperate. However, when Mrs. Baughan saw her daughter at the hospital on Saturday she saw that her condition was not good. The doctor said that he would take Nicola off the machine to see whether she was breathing spontaneously. After a short time he came back to Mrs. Baughan and told her that Nicola was dead. Mrs. Baughan asked to see her daughter, but permisson was refused.

The consulate was informed that Nicola had died, and Mr. Bradley telephoned to say that a post-mortem examination had been performed. When Mrs. Baughan said that her permission for a post mortem had not been requested, he replied that in Spain permission was not needed and post-mortem examinations were performed as a matter of course before burial authority was granted. He asked Mrs. Baughan what the family had decided to do with Nicola and, naturally, was told that they wanted to take her home. He said that that would take a very long time and cost a great deal of money. He asked the family to think about it and gave a telephone number where he could be reached. He explained that nothing could be done then, because the consulate was closing for the weekend—this during the busy time of the year in Spain.

On the next day, Mr. Baughan arrived back in Spain and he went ahead with the funeral arrangements. On Sunday 10th August several attempts were made to contact Mr. Bradley on the telephone number he had given, but there was never an answer. Not until Monday were the family able to get hold of Mr. Bradley. He was still involved in other duties at the consulate.

At 9 a.m. Mr. and Mrs. Baughan went to the mortuary, accompanied by Mrs. Farrell—an English resident who spoke Spanish and with whom the family had become acquainted during the holiday. They again telephoned the consulate, and Mr. Bradley said that he was just leaving to come to the mortuary. The general idea he conveyed was that he would be free to help to make the arrangements for the funeral. Several telephone calls were made to the consulate, and it was said that Mr. Bradley had left in good time to help with the funeral arrangements.

Eventually, just after noon, a Mr. Ortega arrived at the consulate. He went through the arrangements, and said that he understood everything and would arrange for a Protestant clergyman to conduct the funeral service on the following day.

On the following day, 12th August, the family arrived at the mortuary for the funeral. Mrs. Farrell and her sister were there and so were two members from the agency that had arranged the tour. But there was no one from the British consulate at all; nor was a Protestant clergyman present. They thought there had perhaps been some mistake and therefore they went on to the cemetery. They thought that perhaps the clergyman and people from the consulate would be there in attendance.

They arrived at the cemetery only to find that there was no one there, and several telephone calls were made, but without any success. After quite a long wait, they were told that the coffin must be interred because of the terrific heat, and they drove up to the tombs, as they are described. The coffin was unloaded on to the floor. Shortly, some workmen arrived with a small truck and winched the coffin up to its resting place. There still was no sign of the clergyman or anyone from the consulate.

So Nicola was sealed in her tomb without a proper funeral service. Mrs. Farrell and her sister said the Lord's Prayer, and that was all. The family went back to the hotel and later in the evening received a telephone call from a Mr. Copestake, the clergyman who should have been at the funeral. He explained that Nicola had been buried in the Catholic cemetery and he had been waiting at the Protestant cemetery.

The family went to the British consulate next day and saw Mr. Ortega, who was very nervous and did not seem to know what to say. Eventually, they went to see the consul, a Miss Winifred Durbin. She was apologetic and accepted the criticism. Apparently, everything was left to assumption. Mr. Ortega assumed that Mr. Copestake knew where Nicola was being buried and Mr. Copestake assumed that she was being buried in the Protestant cemetery.

One can imagine the effect this series of events had upon the family. Quite clearly, they were very dissatisfied, to put it mildly, with the service and treatment they received from the consulate throughout the whole of this time. Having seen the family and discussed the matter in detail, I wrote to my right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary. I received a reply from the Minister of State and I asked the family to meet me again so that we could discuss his reply.

We came to the conclusion that the Minister of State's reply was a whitewashing exercise and that he had fallen over backwards to find excuses for the indolent way in which the consulate had carried out its duties. Mrs. Baughan made it clear that she had no complaint against the travel agency, and yet the Minister said time and again throughout his reply that the blame lay with the travel agency for not making the proper arrangements and that that was the cause of the chaos. I conclude by asking my hon. Friend some questions, and I hope that he will answer them.

First, will the Foreign Office now, as a result of what I can only describe as a disgraceful episode, carry out a full investigation into the slipshod, indolent, incompetent attitude of the consulate staff in Barcelona? Secondly, the Minister of State excused the staff there by referring to a large number of incidents over the weekend, yet Mr. Bradley, presumably one of the senior members of the consulate, said that the consulate was closed for the weekend. Surely at this very busy time of year, the last two weeks of July, there should be some staff on duty over the weekend.

I am also advised that the consul-general was on leave. The slack period between November and March is surely the time when the consul-general should be on leave, not during this busy period. Why did Mr. Bradley of the consulate staff put so many obstacles in the way of Nicola's being flown home for burial? When the consulate staff knew that Mrs. Baughan was alone, why did they not assign a member of the staff to deal with the problems of hotel, cost of hospital treatment, and funeral arrangements? Finally, will the Foreign Office now try to make amends by flying home Nicola's body for burial in Derby? That would at least ease the pain and anguish still being suffered by Mrs. Baughan and family.

The Spanish authorities also come badly out of this. I have related how Nicola was moved from one hospital to another immediately after she had sustained serious injuries in this accident. When she finished up at the hospital where she was operated on, the authorities spent most of the time trying to find out how much money the family had and whether the bill would be paid. Spain gets many British holidaymakers and, bearing in mind the vast amount that must go into the coffers of that country as a result of British holidaymakers going there, they are entitled to more sympathetic understanding than they get. I ask the Minister to see whether we can do something to assist in cases like this, not only on questions about how a consulate would deal with the matter, but by having discussions with the Spanish authorities.

This has been a difficult time for the family and I trust that the Foreign Office will at least make amends by flying home this coffin so that Nicola can have a decent burial in this country.

2.32 a.m.

The Under-Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (Mr. Edward Rowlands)

Before dealing in detail with the points raised by my hon. Friend the Member for Derby, South (Mr. Johnson), let me say how deeply sorry I feel about Nicola's tragic and untimely death. I am a family man and no one can help sharing in the agony and grief of the family. I hope that my hon. Friend will pass on my sympathy to Mrs. Baughan.

My hon. Friend has outlined some of the facts of this tragic case. From the moment they knew of the accident to the date of Nicola's death on 9th August—that moment was on 4th August—the consulate-general responded to various inquiries and requests from Mr. and Mrs. Baughan. For example, it arranged for privileged hospital visiting facilities for Mr. and Mrs. Baughan to see their daughter, as well as for hotel accommodation. Following Nicola's death on 9th August, the consulate-general at Barcelona contacted Mr. Baughan, who had returned to Britain. Mr. Baughan decided that Nicola should be given a local burial. The consulate-general did not pressurise the decision, It was made by the family. The consulate-general explained the circumstances and the costs involved. It did not make the decision, nor "persuade" Mr. Baughan, as one Press comment said. The decision was taken by Mr. Baughan.

On Monday 11th August Mrs. Baughan sought the help of the consulate-general in two ways—to arrange for a Protestant clergyman to officiate at the funeral and to assist in making the funeral arrangements with the local undertaker. The consulate-general began to look for a clergyman. However, it had not planned to be with Mrs. Baughan that morning since she was to be accompanied at the undertaker's by a friend who lived locally and spoke Spanish and by the local travel agent of the tour organisers. It was the peak of the holiday season and the staff at the office were dealing with a number of other serious accidents on the morning itself. Unfortunately, before the vice-consul was able to join Mr. Baughan, the undertaker arranged the funeral at an entirely Catholic cemetery.

Meanwhile, the staff of the consulate-general had found a Protestant lay preacher, who, unfortunately, was not informed of the arrangement to hold the funeral at the Catholic cemetery. The next day the lay preacher went to the wrong cemetery. Before he or the consular official could get to the right one, the interment had taken place.

I want to tell my hon. Friend that we make no attempt at all to whitewash the circumstances arising from the funeral arrangements. In his letter, my hon. Friend the Minister of State expressed his deepest regret and apologies that this tragic misunderstanding had occurred and that the arrangements were not dealt with more effectively.

We accept that there should have been more care to avoid the confusion and misunderstanding that arose. I wish publicly to express my own sincere regret and to associate myself with the apologies that the consul made to Mr. and Mrs. Baughan on the day after. Concerning that tragic aspect, and particularly the misunderstanding and confusion over the funeral arrangements, I repeat that we have not attempted to whitewash but have accepted the element of responsibility for that misunderstanding.

My hon. Friend has raised a number of specific points. He has asked for a full inquiry. That has taken place. We have already held a detailed investigation, and that has led to this statement, as well as the reply from the Minister of State to my hon. Friend. As for the fact that the consulate was closed at the weekend, there is always a duty officer at weekends, contactable through the consulate. As my hon. Friend said, the family were therefore given telephone numbers to ring. I am sorry if they did not actually make contact.

As for the "obstacles" put in the way of flying Nicola's body home at the time, I do not think there were obstacles. The consulate explained the problems and the difficulties which could arise. They were not meant as obstacles but as a factual explanation of the situation that faced the Baughan family. My hon. Friend has asked about the assigning of staff, and I shall refer to that shortly.

His main question concerned the possibility now of flying the body home. I quite understand and sympathise with the request made for the repatriation of Nicola's body. I think we ought to explain to Mr. and Mrs. Baughan that, Mr. Baughan having decided on a local burial, to bring the body home now would present very difficult problems. The chief one is that if the Baughans wish to bring the body home, they have to bear in mind that Spanish regulations, like those of some other countries, are such that exhumation can be considered only after two years. That is not a regulation confined to Spain. It is in force in other countries. Mr. and Mrs. Baughan and my hon. Friend will no doubt wish to consider the matter in the light of these facts.

The Department as such has no funds available with which to finance the repatriation of the body, but in any case we are faced by the fact of the Spanish regulations concerning exhumation.

Mr. Walter Johnson

The Minister is now aware, as were the consular staff, that no proper burial service took place. He can imagine that even now the family suffer very considerably from the anguish of knowing that their daughter was just put into a tomb and interred without any religious ceremony at all. I still say that the Government have a responsibility to make amends here to the family, and I ask the Minister to think again and to talk to the Spanish authorities with a view to bringing the body home.

Mr. Rowlands

I have made the point that these are the Spanish regulations. As a Christian myself. I appreciate the point about there having been no proper Christian burial. I was simply pointing out that these were the Spanish regulations. I shall take note of the further representations that my hon. Friend has made to me tonight.

Finally, I wish to make one general point. My hon. Friend has quite rightly drawn attention to the difficulties over staff in meeting the needs and requirements of Mr. and Mrs. Baughan in these tragic circumstances. If I put the whole matter in the context of the work of the consulate, I hasten to say that it is in no way meant to detract from the deepest regret that I feel and the apologies that I have just made to my hon. Friend and, through him, to Mr. and Mrs. Baughan. However, I feel that we should be aware of the circumstances and pressures under which the staff of the consulate-general were working at the time, bearing in mind my hon. Friend's reference to the need to assign staff to deal with circumstances of the kind in which Mr. and Mrs. Baughan found themselves.

When I looked at the pressures under which this office was working in August, I was frankly both astonished and shocked. For example, at the time when Mrs. Baughan called at the office, the staff were also dealing with four road accidents involving two dead and five seriously injured Britons, together with one death by illness and a medical repatriation by air. They were also trying to help 500 British campers who were reported stranded further up the coast. This was on top of other more routine but equally time-consuming work on passports, visas, thefts from visitors, missing persons and tourists in trouble with the police.

In the month of August, the office in Barcelona alone dealt with problems arising from 15 deaths—in all, more than 500 queries and calls were made in the month. So far this year there have been 77 deaths of United Kingdom nationals reported to the consulate-general in Barcelona, of which 37 required significant action such as informing next of kin, contacts with insurance companies, assisting with funeral arrangements and transfer of funds.

At the British consulate-general in Barcelona we have one career consul, one locally-engaged vice-consul, two locally-engaged assistants, and three counter clerks. With clerical workers, the sum total of the Barcelona consular office is nine people.

I am sure that many citizens, and many holiday-makers, will not have been remotely conscious of the tremendous variety and number of problems that our consulates in major holiday resorts face each year. What I have described certainly presents a different image from the popular one fostered sometimes in the media—of our missions and posts abroad enjoying an easy life, constituting somehow a luxury that we cannot afford. They try to provide a service, to assist British citizens abroad, to help when trouble arises. It is the duty of our posts to do so. But we face a period of financial retrenchment. We are being forced to close one consulate in Spain this year, and the service will be severely pressed to maintain its present capability in the future.

I am certainly very conscious and aware of the very sad circumstances of the case my honourable Friend has rightly brought to our attention tonight. No one hearing about it can fail to be moved and shocked, and, as I said to my hon. Friend, we apologise sincerely for the misunderstandings and the confusion over the funeral arrangements. But I am sure that he will appreciate that people working abroad in consulates under the pressures that exist are human beings who may make mistakes. I hope that we shall be able to avoid such an instance in the future.

I shall take note of my hon. Friend's further representations, though it would be cruel to offer any hope that we can get round either the regulations about exhumation of the body or the problem of the costs involved. The Department has no funds with which to finance the repatriation of Nicola's body.

Question put and agreed to.

Adjourned accordingly at sixteen minutes to Three o'clock a.m.