If your holiday is ruined by injury or illness, our solicitors Daniel Carr, Robert Johnson, Victoria Roberts and Taz Singh, personal injury law specialists at Malcolm C Foy and Co in Doncaster and Rotherham, can help you identify who is responsible and advise you how to claim compensation.
There are many ways in which you could suffer personal injuries whilst you are on holiday. Trips, slips and falls are common hazards anywhere, but if you are hurt due to badly maintained accommodation, facilities or grounds it is important to find out who is responsible. Dangerous facilities combined with a lack of adequate warning signs could amount to a failure to ensure public safety. Poor hygiene procedures and food that has not been properly prepared in hotels, bars and restaurants can leave you with the nasty effects of food poisoning, sometimes putting you out of action for the rest of your vacation.
If you decide to make a claim for injury compensation, your claim may be made up of several different elements. These can include pain and suffering, the cost of medical care and treatment, loss of earnings, psychological trauma as well as a sum to reflect your loss of enjoyment of your holiday.
Finding out who is responsible
If you booked directly with the holiday accommodation owner, you have a legally binding contract with them and that means they have a contractual duty of care towards you.
If you booked through a travel agent, who organised the holiday accommodation for you, your contract is with them and they are responsible for ensuring there is the correct standard of safety at the accommodation.
If your holiday was abroad and part of a package, the Package Travel, Package Holidays and Package Tours Regulations 1992 make the tour operator responsible for all aspects of the holiday including the accommodation, the food provided and the facilities. The regulations allow you to make a claim against your tour operator in the UK.
If you are injured because of work being done by contractors on the site of the accommodation, you may have a claim against both the owner and the contractor.
Even if the premises display signs excluding liability for personal injury, do not be put off. In many cases owners cannot exclude liability, especially if there is fault on their part.
What you can expect from your accommodation
Whether you are staying in a hotel, bed and breakfast, self-catering or camping, the standard of safety should be the same.
The owner of the premises, which includes the grounds as well as the buildings, must have reasonable safety measures in place to make sure that guests are safe during their visit. This responsibility applies to moveable objects, such as bouncy castles and displays, as well as the buildings.
Some facilities, such as swimming pools, present a higher risk to safety and greater care should be taken by the owner to limit hazards. They should display suitable warnings about the depth of the pool at each end and take precautions to ensure that the tiles surrounding the pool and diving board are not overly slippery. The water should be treated to avoid giving rise to infections. In France, outdoor swimming pools must be gated, alarmed or covered when unattended.
Campsites can be hazardous as children and animals are more likely to be allowed to roam freely. Dog owners can be held accountable for the actions of their pet if you or your children are attacked by it. Lavatories, showers, play areas and shopping and recreational facilities provided for campsite users, should all be of a high safety standard.
If you are ‘glamping’, you are entitled to expect that your tent, tipi or yurt has been properly erected for your use and that any equipment provided such as barbeques, lanterns and wood-burning stoves have been safety tested.
These standards also apply to self-catering accommodation. Fixtures and fittings, including all electrical items should conform to the relevant safety standards and grounds should be properly maintained.
Practical tips if you are affected
- report the injury, accident or illness to the holiday accommodation owner at the time of the accident itself, or as soon as possible afterwards;
- make a note of the incident in the accommodation accident report book;
- obtain names and contact details of any witnesses;
- take photographs of where the accident took place;
- keep receipts for all expenses you incur as a result of the accident;
- keep a note of medical treatment received, including at the hospital and follow-up visits to the GP; and
- keep a record of your prescriptions and costs.
Time limits and procedure
Taking legal advice at the earliest stage is vital as strict time limits apply to all personal injury claims. If your accident happened abroad, gathering evidence retrospectively can add extra delays. We will advise you on the strength of your case.
For accidents that happened after July 2013, the claim must be made through an online claims portal. It is important to have legal guidance throughout this process as a wrongly completed application could affect your chances of successfully obtaining compensation for your injury.
If you booked through a travel agent, you can also register a complaint with the Association of British Travel Agents (ABTA). They can appoint an arbitrator to help settle claims for minor illness or personal injuries but the compensation award is limited to £1,500 per person. You must submit claims within 18 months of the date that you returned from holiday.
For more serious personal injury cases and illness claims, your solicitor may suggest that you use a specialist personal injury mediation service. This may be a quicker and more cost-effective route to obtaining compensation than going to court.
If you have been injured or suffered an illness while on holiday, speak to one of our personal injury solicitors for advice. We can help you get the compensation you deserve.
Contact us on Doncaster 01302 340005 or Rotherham 01709 836866 or by e-mail at the following address:-
The contents of this article are for the purposes of general awareness only. They do not purport to constitute legal or professional advice. The law may have changed since this article was published. Readers should not act on the basis of the information included and should take appropriate professional advice upon their own particular circumstances 29.06.15