A European MP has called for Europe-wide legislation to bring all hotels up to a designated standard, in the wake of last week’s £80,000 fine on O & C Holdsworth plc, the owners of the Penhallow Hotel in Newquay.

Graham Watson, MEP for South West England, said each year, millions of people travelled and stayed in hotels throughout Europe, yet there was no legislation on a European level to protect them.

He said previous attempts to get an agreed code of practice failed, as did an initiative by the European Parliament to mandate the installation of sprinklers in hotels.

But in the light of the Penhallow case and the fact that the Lisbon Treaty now recognises tourism as a “core part of European Union business”, it was perhaps time to revisit the idea.

“It would be good to know that the same standards of safety can be expected in hotels in other [European] countries, as they are in our own,” said Mr Watson.

Responding to a question on whether the Penhallow Hotel fire should re-energise moves to create Europe-wide legislation, he told EuropeAndYou.com:

“The Penhallow fire demonstrates how bad things can be. I’m sure there are similar incidents in other countries of the European Union.

“Let us recognise the finding that has been made in this case, and use it as a lever on which to push for more action at European level, to make sure that safety standards are the same everywhere, that safety standards are properly respected, and that people are not in danger of losing their lives due to carelessness or lack of legal attention.

“It is often the case that you need to legislate in order to oblige hoteliers to make their hotels [meet] an adequate standard,” said Mr Watson. “We’ve done it in the past in the UK..let’s make sure that this is the case right across the European Union.”