If you have sustained personal injury whilst on holiday in another country then you may still be able to bring a claim here in the UK. The most straight forward way to do this is under The Package Travel, Package Holidays and Package Tour Regulations 1992.
If your holiday is a “package tour holiday” then bringing a claim is more straight forward than finding a lawyer in the country that the accident happened in. Initially in these types of cases we will look at whether or not your holiday was a “package tour holiday“. If you paid a sum for your holiday and that sum included a combination of things such as accommodation, flights, transfers, etc then it is likely that your holiday was a “package tour holiday“.
A holiday may fall out of the definition if flights, accommodation, transfers etc are all booked separately. When we book a holiday through a travel agent it is more than likely going to be a “package tour holiday“. You must have booked the holiday from within the UK and generally the holiday should be sold as a package at an inclusive price. The holiday should also be pre-arranged and should be for an overnight stay of longer than 24 hours – to be a package tour holiday. You don’t need to satisfy all of this criteria, but most of it.
The purpose of the regulations was to harmonise the laws on consumer protection in the European Union in relation to package holidays. The regulations give you a course of action against your package holiday provider, even if the negligence (or fault) is from hotel staff etc. If you are injured due to a defect within your hotel then you will have a course of action. The same goes if you sustain injury on an excursion for example. It is all part of the package tour holiday. Obviously you would expect the hotel to be well maintained and to be safe. The maintenance only needs to be to local standards so there can be some difference to the level of maintenance that we expect in the UK.
It is important that you are protected when you are travelling abroad. We all enjoy a holiday but accidents can happen anywhere. If you sustain injury due to the negligence of others or due to poor maintenance etc then it is only right that you should be able to make a claim. Due to the Regulations you do have the right to bring a claim should you sustain injury whilst on holiday.
To discuss a potential claim, contact The Injury Lawyers today.
