Here at The Injury Lawyers we are only too aware of the frequency of which accidents happen. We receive numerous calls each day informing us that people like you and me have sustained some form of personal injury through no fault of their own. In many cases the unfortunate individual may have been involved in a road traffic accident, slipped or tripped while walking, or have sustained an injury when carrying out their normal duties at work. Typically, these accidents occur within the United Kingdom. So, what happens if you sustain a personal injury which is not your fault whilst you are abroad?
Just imagine that nightmare scenario. You have booked the holiday of a lifetime. You have waited to go on this holiday for the best part of a year. The time to go on that dream holiday has come around. You arrive at your destination, settle into your hotel, and go about those usual holiday activities. Unfortunately, only days into this dream holiday you are unfortunate to have injured yourself by tripping over some defective paving situated only metres away from the pool you intended to spend much of your time in. Are you able to make a claim for compensation? After all, you have sustained a genuine injury that, should you have sustained while at home, you would have been entitled to claim for compensation. If you have been involved in an accident abroad it is important that you seek the advice of a quality injury lawyer. It is only by doing this that you can find out whether you can make a claim for compensation, and it is also the first steps to you getting that compensation you may deserve.
If an accident has occurred while you are outside of the United Kingdom, it does not restrict your ability to obtain compensation. If you have been injured at your resort, have been involved in a road traffic accident when using a hire car, or have gone on an excursion, and any of these have been organised by your holiday company as part of a package, you can make a claim against the holiday package provider right here in the UK! Most UK based lawyers will be able to assist you with this. If the claim is against a party directly abroad, you may need to enlist the help of a lawyer specialising in foreign injury cases.
Unfortunately, a claim abroad can take a little bit longer to get sorted. For instance, a typical claim for compensation under the Pre-Action Protocol, a procedure that has helped quicken the process of personal injury claims for years, may take approximately 4-6 months in total to get settled. However, with accidents abroad, the same Protocol when it applies to claims against holiday package providers allows the other side twice as long to investigate your claim.
However, when you consider that your lawyers may have to acclimatise themselves with foreign laws, or that investigations may need to be carried out abroad, we do not believe that this is too unreasonable.
So, if you have been involved in an accident abroad, make sure you get the right advice from a professional, quality personal injury lawyer.
