If you had an accident while on holiday, you may be entitled to make a claim for compensation. A claim following an accident on holiday is not always as straightforward as a standard personal injury claim.
If it happened abroad, there are issues regarding jurisdiction (i.e. different laws in the different country where the accident happened) and also regarding who to bring the claim against. While such claims are not always straightforward, we deal with many holiday accident claims and we can take your call today and assess whether you have a claim – for free.
It could be that your claim is rather straightforward so don’t be put off. It has to be worth a phone call. Remember, every case is different and unique, but there is one way you could potentially make a claim for an injury abroad without any issues…
Holiday accidents can turn out to be very expensive, even if you had travel insurance in place. Such insurance will often not cover you for all eventualities. In addition to medical costs and the trauma of the injury, holiday accidents tend to cause more stress and inconvenience than if you had an accident here in the UK. This is not surprising as most of us worry about getting treatment abroad, often due to issues such as language barriers and not being covered by any public health system. An accident abroad could seriously ruin your holiday and is is not always clear who to bring the claim against. Here is where we introduce the following important piece of law for you:
The Package Travel, Package Holiday and Package Tour Regulations 1992 apply to all package holidays.
These regulations state that a package holiday means a pre-arranged combination of at least two out of three of the following components:
- Transport;
- Accommodation;
- Other ‘tourist service’ such as an excursion or any other activity accounting for a significant proportion of the package.
If your accident or injuries can be directly linked to any part of a package holiday, you may be able to bring a claim under the regulations (i.e. you satisfy at least two of the criteria above) under UK jurisdiction against the package holiday provider! If you cannot satisfy two of the above criteria then generally you would have to bring the claim in the country where the accident happened – but it can all depend. Obviously the country where the accident occurred is likely to have different laws than the UK and there are also funding arrangements to consider as other countries may not be able to offer you a No Win No Fee (also known as a Conditional Fee) Agreement. So if you can bring a claim against a package provider, it’s always the more worthwhile option in our opinion.
For information as to whether you could bring a claim under these regulations, it is imperative that you seek legal advice from trained professionals.
Here at The Injury Lawyers we deal solely with personal injury claims so call us now on 0800 634 75 75 for the essential advice you need.
