Wanita Sepet Dibuang Dari Private Club Berprestij Di London

Mahathirina · Post time 19-11-2024 10:29 PM

A glamorous businesswoman who claimed she was 'belittled and bullied' after she was expelled from her £1,235-a-year Mayfair private members club for breaching Covid rules faces a £600,000-plus court bill after losing her fight for reinstatement.

Gina Mok was removed as a member of the prestigious Lansdowne Club, in Mayfair, in November 2021 after twice turning up with Covid-like symptoms when she should have been self-isolating.

But the city executive, 46, claimed she had not broken the law by attending the club as she was exempt from isolation rules.

This sparked a long-running battle with the private members club, which has counted fashion designer Paul Smith, broadcaster Richard Dimbleby and judge Baroness Butler-Sloss among its upmarket clientele.

It comes as she is facing another legal bill for nearly £20,000, after she secretly turned her £32,000-a-year flat near Buckingham Palace into an AirBnB against her landlord's rules.

The alarm was raised after neighbours in Buckingham Gate reported holidaymakers arriving with suitcases and 'marauding around' on the roof at night. She denied the accusations, blaming a friend for letting it while she was away, but was successfully sued for possession by the property's owners.

Ms Mok said that the Lansdowne Club's disciplinary process was biased against her because she had criticised the management and that expelling her permanently was over-the-top.

But after a trial at the High Court, her case was thrown out by Mr Justice Ritchie - and now, after a further hearing, she has been left facing bills estimated at more than £600,000 for her failed bid to reclaim her membership.

The judge said the club had proved unvaccinated Ms Mok broke the law when she attended the club on consecutive days in October 2021 when she had just returned from a trip to Bulgaria and should have been isolating.

He ordered her to pay the club's lawyers' bills for the trial, with £350,000 up front, which will be on top of £62,000 already ordered following pre-trial hearings and her own budgeted costs of around £200,000.

The Lansdowne Club, close to Mayfair's Berkeley Square, was founded in 1935 as a 'social, residential and athletic club for members of social standing.'

Ms Mok moved to London in 2008, having attended two Ivy League business schools in the US.

She became a member of the club in 2015, and a member of its council in 2021.

She found herself in trouble with the club when, following a trip to Bulgaria in October 2021, she attended a meeting after which she was told that Covid rules meant that she should have been isolating at home, if not exempt.

Ms Mok said she did not realise the rules had changed while she was away, but despite checking that evening, she returned to the club again the following day, the court heard.

A disciplinary process then took place with the club committee voting to oust her in November of that year, having found that she had broken the law on club premises.