Mayfair club is sued for kicking out ‘Covid rule-breaker’: Unvaccinated ‘private investor’ launches £50,000 legal war after being accused of failing to quarantine by Department of Health official who was also a member
- Gina Mok, 44, is suing the Lansdowne Club in Mayfair at London’s High Court
- Ms Mok, a businesswoman, was a council member at the £1,235-a-year club
- But she rowed with a fellow member following a trip to Bulgaria last Autumn
- Government health official Phoebe Topping accused her of Covid rule breach
- Ms Mok was expelled from Lansdowne and is now suing the club for £50,000
An exclusive Mayfair club is being sued after kicking out a businesswoman allegedly caught breaching Covid travel rules by a fellow member.
Gina Mok was expelled from the £1,235-a-year Lansdowne Club in central London following a row with another member – who happened to be a top Department of Health official.
Ms Mok, 44, who was unnvaccinated, rowed with civil servant Phoebe Topping over whether or not she had to quarantine after returning from a trip to Bulgaria last autumn.
The club – whose members have included the likes of British fashion designer Paul Smith and once made American actress Grace Kelly an honorary member – cancelled her member a month later.
Now Ms Mok, a self-styled ‘private investor’, is suing the Lansdowne in the High Court for £50,000 for ‘loss of privacy, injury to feelings and person, distress and damage to [her] reputation’.
A spokesperson for the club said they were ‘extremely surprised’ that the claim has been brought against them.
Businesswoman Gina Mok was expelled from the £1,235-a-year Lansdowne Club (pictured) in central London following a row with another member – who happened to be a Department of Health official
Ms Mok (pictured left), 44, who was unnvaccinated, rowed with civil servant Phoebe Topping (pictured right) over whether or not she had to quarantine after returning from a trip to Bulgaria last autumn
In her claim against the Lansdowne, which boasts its own swimming pool and occasionally holds fencing competitions in its ballroom, Ms Mok, alleges that she has been the victim of statements which are both ‘untrue’ and ‘made maliciously’, and which imply that she had been ‘convicted of a criminal offence’.
In court documents, Ms Mok, a self-styled ‘private investor’, explains that, until her expulsion, she was a member not just of the club but also of the council that oversees how the Lansdowne is run.
Last autumn, after travelling to Bulgaria, she attended a meeting of the club’s council.
Afterwards, Ms Mok had dinner, sitting next to a fellow council member, Phoebe Topping — Head of International Certification at the Department of Health, responsible for drafting and implementing government policy on ‘vaccine certification for travel’.
Ms Mok, who was unvaccinated, alleges that Topping accused her of ‘breaking the law because new Covid rules’ — of which she was unaware — ‘required unvaccinated individuals to quarantine after returning from abroad’.
Ms Mok says she later looked up the regulations and believed herself to be exempt for medical reasons.
She then returned to the club the next day. However this further angered Ms Topping, who allegedly urged her to resign her position.
Following a club hearing in which Ms Mok was found to have breached club rules her membership of the Lansdowne was cancelled.
The club has now submitted a defence in response to Ms Mok’s High Court claim for £50,000 in damages for ‘loss of privacy, injury to feelings and person, distress and damage to [her] reputation’.
A club spokesman says it would ‘not be appropriate to comment in detail, other than to say we were extremely surprised, given the factual background, that these claims have been brought in the first place’.
The club, which has a mostly Art Deco themed interior, features a ballroom, a terrace, a fencing arena and a pool, among other facilities
The club has now submitted a defence in response to Ms Mok’s High Court (pictured) claim for £50,000 in damages for ‘loss of privacy, injury to feelings and person, distress and damage to [her] reputation’
Founded in 1935, and situated off the famous Berkley Square in Mayfair, the Lansdown boasted a relatively young membership and active social scene following its inception.
It was initially founded as a ‘social, residential and athletic Club for members of social standing’ and their families, and unlike many rivals, it had no vocational, artistic, or political ‘theme’.
The club, which has a mostly Art Deco themed interior, features a ballroom, a terrace, a fencing arena and a pool, among other facilities.
Among its members, past and present, include the American-British chef and author Loyd Grossman and British fashion designer Paul Smith.
The late American actress Grace Kelly and husband Rainier III, Prince of Monaco, were also honorary members.
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