Holiday Accident Claims Solicitors Romford, Upminster, Brentwood
Types of Holiday Accident Claims
If you have become ill or suffer an injury whilst in a hotel, on a cruise or under other circumstances on holiday, and someone is at fault for your illness or injury, you may be able to make a claim for compensation.
British tourists who experience an accident or suffer personal injury or even food poisoning while on holiday, can in the vast majority of claims, sue UK tour operators instead of the airline, the cruise ship or the foreign hotel, provided that the holiday is deemed as a package. Tour operators must ensure that their customers’ accommodation is safe and hygienic, and that they are not exposed to the risk of injury, disease, or infection.
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Why Choose Mullis & Peake for Holiday Accident Claims? Expertise and Skills of our team of Holiday Injury Lawyers.
Accidents that occur abroad can be extremely complex with an array of difficulties such as the language barrier, foreign legal systems and the difficulty in proving what happened. We have experience in handling claims for most forms of holiday accident, in countries throughout Europe and elsewhere.
Role of Solicitors in Holiday Injury Claims. Benefits of Working with Specialised Solicitors
Initially, your solicitor will investigate the circumstances surrounding your accident to establish whether liability can be attributed to another party, in doing this they will have to consider the applicability of the foreign laws to the claim, take witness statements, review medical records and disclosure document from the otherside.
Once liability has been established, we will look at obtaining medical evidence to enable us to value your claim.
Holiday Accident Claims: Legal Overview. Key Legislation and Regulations
Regulations Governing Holiday Injury Claims
The main legislation which is applicable to holiday claims are:
- Package Travel, Package Holidays and Package Tours Regulations 1992
- Package Travel and Linked Travel Arrangements Regulations 2018
- Lugano Convention
Step-by-Step Guide to Making a Claim
Initially we will need to take some details from you regarding the circumstances of your accident and the injuries you have suffered. We will also need to see copies of your holiday booking documents to ensure that the relevant legislation applies to your claim.
Initially we will investigate liability and write to the Defendants to ascertain their position on who is at fault for the accident. Once the position on liability has been addressed, we will consider further the injuries suffered, this will require us to obtain medical reports from specialist doctors who will provide a report on the injuries suffered and the likely recovery and prognosis.
Once evidence is collated, the next step will be to agree the value the claim with the other side. If agreement cannot be reached, a court application will need to be made to enable the court to determine the value of the claim.
Importance of Legal Assistance in Holiday Accident Claims
Holiday claims are often complex as foreign laws need to be applied to the claim and it can often be difficult to get a response from Defendants parties where they are outside of the UK.
Common Scenarios Leading to Holiday Accident Claims
- A person slipping on a staircase whilst walking around a hotel
- A laceration caused by a defective tile or surface in a swimming pool.
- A laceration caused by a splinter of wood on a decking area around a pool.
- A defective door in a hotel causing injury to a child
Understanding the Nature of Holiday Injuries
Package holiday claims arise where a holiday maker has suffered injury whilst on holiday. The regulations allow the claim to be bought within the UK even though the accident happened elsewhere.
The regulations apply to holidays where the holiday were purchased in the UK and must include at least two of the following components; transport, accommodation or other tourist services.
Holiday Accident Compensation: What You Need to Know
- Report your accident to the rep and/or hotel – keep a copy of the accident report
- Seek medical attention
- Contact your travel insurance provider
- Collect any evidence – such as photographs of defect, write a short statement and obtain details of any other witnesses
- Keep a record of any dates of attendance to the hospital/doctor.
- Keep copies of any expenses receipts.
Types of Compensation Available
Compensation will be financial in nature and will include an element of General Damages (pain and suffering element) and Special Damages – these are the expenses you incur as a result of the accident. In a holiday claim these can also include repatriation costs, hospital expenses whilst aboard and loss of enjoyment of your holiday.
Eligibility Criteria for Compensation
To be able to claim compensation for your claim, we will need to be able to establish that someone else is liable for the injury that you have suffered.
We will also need to assess the applicability of the law to your claim, this will depend on where you had the accident and the circumstances of your accident.
Factors Affecting Compensation Amounts
Factors which will affect the level of compensation will include;
- Whether any fault is attributed to the injured person.
- The extent of the injury suffered.
- The effect of the injury on the injured person’s ability to work and live their life.
- The recovery from the injury.
- The age of the injured person.
Personal Injury Enquiry
Fill out the form and a member of our team will get in touch to discuss how we can help.
No Win, No Fee Basis for Holiday Accident Claims. Understanding No Win, No Fee Arrangements
No win no fee agreement are technically called Conditional Fee agreements. If you win your claim, you pay our basic charges from the date you first consult us, our expenses and disbursements and a success fee together with the premium for any insurance you take out. You are entitled to seek recovery from your opponent of part or all of our basic charges and our expenses and disbursements, but not the success fee or any insurance premium.
If you lose you will normally have the benefit of Qualified One-Way Cost Shifting so the court will not usually enforce an order for costs against you, unless:
• the proceedings have been struck out; or
• the claim is fundamentally dishonest; or
• the claim includes a claim for the financial benefit of someone else.
If you lose, you do not pay our charges, but we may require you to pay our expenses and disbursements.
Financial Aspects of Legal Representation
Generally, where you are represented under a Conditional Fee Agreement, your solicitors will fund the up-front costs of your claim, this will include court fees and fees to medical expert(s) to report on your injuries. If your injuries are severe these expenses can quite easily rack up and will feasibly be in the £10,000 range.
How to Make a Holiday Accident Claim
If you wished to pursue a claim for injury on holiday the first step will be to contact our experience team to have an initial discussion about the viability of us acting for you.
Steps Involved in Initiating a Claim
Once we have initially spoken with you, we will need to see booking details for your holiday and usually photographs of the defect which caused your injury and to take some initial information from you.
Once we have this information, the next step will be to send a letter of claim to the Defendants, this letter will set out the basic position of your claim and seek the Defendant to confirm if they accept fault or not. If they deny responsibility they have an obligation to provide us with documentation we can then review to assess if your claim maintains good prospect of success.
Documentation and Evidence Requirements
- ID
- Booking Confirmation
- Photographs
- Copies of any documents such as the accident book provided whilst you were away
- Hospital records/details of any hospitals attended
- We will also take witness statement from any witnesses to the accident.
- Records/receipts of any expenses you have incurred
Benefits of Working with Experienced Lawyers
Holiday claims are often complex as foreign laws need to be applied to the claim and it can often be difficult to get a response from Defendants parties where they are outside of the UK.
Common Mistakes in Holiday Accident Claims. Pitfalls to Avoid in the Claims Process
- Make sure that you report the accident or illness at the time
- Seek medical attention when necessary
- Language barriers can cause issues in documentation, try to check the information recorded is correct before signing and ask for a copy of any documents
- Beware of the limitation date you have on bringing a claim
- Do not exaggerate your injuries
- Keep tabs on any expenses that you incur.
- Failing to take proper legal advice
Consequences of Errors in Claims
- Applicability of incorrect legislation to claim
- Miss limitation, meaning that you lose your right to bring a claim
- Undervaluation injuries resulting in a claim being settled for less than it should be
- Failure to recognise all the losses that have been suffered
- Failure to recognise potential future losses
Challenging Holiday Accident Claims
Defendants, usually being the hotel or tour operator, will often seek to defend claims bought against them. They can do this by alleging that the accident was your fault or that the defect which caused the accident was not in breach of the standards of that country.
Holiday Injury Solicitors vs. General Personal Injury Lawyers. Differences in Expertise and Focus
Due to the complexity of bringing holiday claims, with the applicability of a number of different pieces of legislation and the fact that you have to consider foreign legislation, it is important that you have a representative that clearly understands the process and procedure. A general personal injury lawyer will be fine with assessing the value of the claim but may fall short when it comes to determining liability and the applicability of the regulations.
Our Holiday Accident Claims Case Studies
- Acted for a Claimant who slipped on a stair case located close to a swimming pool which did not have any protective surfaces to make this area anti slip, even though it was a common traffic route for person using the pool.
- Acted for a child, who suffered a laceration from a damaged tile in the swimming pool.
- Acted for a Claimant, who suffered a large laceration to her foot, when she was walking around the pool area and a large splinter of wood came off the decking surface and stabbed into her foot.
- Acted for a Child, who suffered injury when a door shattered as he was pushing it open.
FAQs About Holiday Accident Claims:
Yes, you can potentially claim for an accident that happen whilst abroad, we would need to discuss the circumstances of the accident to ascertain if the this would be a claim which we could pursue on your behalf.
Types of holiday accidents
- Transport related accidents
- Slip, trips and falls
- Sports accidents
- Swimming pool accidents
- Food poisoning
- Ensure that you report the accident
- Seek medical treatment if needed
- Try to take pictures of the accident location
- Write a short statement about what happened
- Take details of any witnesses to your accident or other holiday makers that will be able to confirm the condition of the hotel/defect.
- Keep a record of any expenses
- Seek legal advice
If you have an accident whilst on holiday in the UK, we can still pursue this claim for you, however we are unlikely to need to rely upon the same regulations that you would rely upon in bringing a claim for a holiday abroad.
The extent of any compensation for personal injury, will depend on the injury that you suffer, how well you recover and the long term effects of the injury.
The Limitation Act imposes a deadline in which claims for personal injury and accident whilst on holiday can be bought. Generally you will have three years from the date of the accident in which to commence court proceedings.
This will vary depending on the extent of your injuries and how the Defendants treat the claims, the very quickest you could expect a claim to complete would be within 6 months, but if the injuries are extensive or the Defendants dispute liability then you could be looking at years.
Your rights will vary depending on the type of holiday you have booked, what country you are in and what the circumstances of your accident are.
Evidence is required to prove liability, if this is disputed by the Defendants, therefore it is helpful if at the time of your accident you do the following;
- Take pictures of the accident location
- Obtain details of any witnesses
- Ensure that the accident is reported.
Mullis & Peake have specialists in personal injury ready to help you. Contact us online today or call us on 01708 784000.
Alternatively, request a call back to have one of our team contact you at a time that suits.
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Holly is a Member and Head of Mullis and Peake’s Dispute Resolution Department
Martyn ​is our Chairman and the firms' Compliance Officer for Legal Practice
