Holiday Injury Claim

Welcome to the website of Boris Kremer, a UK personal injury solicitor.

If you would like an initial free assessment of your potential holiday injury claim, please either:

Case Study: Compensation Claim for Injury on Holiday in Turkey

I acted previously for a client living in Cornwall, who suffered an injury to her ankle while on holiday with her family in Turkey.

The accident happened when the client tripped on a flight of crumbling steps within the grounds of the hotel.

The name of the hotel was the Saint Nicholas Garden Apartments, located at a town called Hisoranu, on the south west coast of Turkey, across the water from the Greek island of Rhodes.

With the client on the holiday were her husband, and also her 3 daughters, aged 16, 13 and 10.

She previously purchased the holiday at a First Choice travel shop. It was a self-catering holiday. The flight and accommodation were included within the price.

The staircase comprised about half a dozen steps. At the top of the steps was a pavement adjoining a public road. At the bottom of the steps was a red coloured gate. This was always open.

Most of the holidaymakers at the hotel were British. During the holiday, another British tourist mentioned that the steps could be used as a shortcut to get to the market.

Using the steps for the first time, the client noticed that the last step before the top was crumbling away. Walking in single file the family went up the staircase, keeping well to one side. When they returned later that day, they similarly took care to avoid the hazard by keeping to the right as they went down.

The accident happened a few days later, when the family were returning to the hotel from the market. Keeping in single file, the husband went down the steps first, followed by the client.

While descending, the client slipped and fell. She suffered a dislocated foot.

An ambulance was called, and this came within a couple of minutes. The client was taken to the hospital at Fetie, this being about 10 to 15 km distant.

Bizarrely, the hotel repaired the defective step within a matter of minutes, by attaching wooden shuttering and applying concrete.

After returning home, the client then underwent an extended period of medical investigation and treatment. She required surgery in the form of a lateral ligament reconstruction operation. She was not discharged medically until about 2.5 years after the accident.

The client instructed me to make a personal injury claim on her behalf, against the tour operators. The latter admitted liability at a fairly early stage. However, they refused all requests to make an interim payment. Eventually a court order had to be obtained.

Once our medical evidence and financial losses calculation had been finalised, an out of court settlement was achieved. Part of the final compensation reflected the fact that the holiday was ruined.

About Holiday Injury Claims Generally

I have handled a number of compensation claims against British tour operators, in respect of injuries sustained on holidays abroad.

Normally, tour operators handle such claims "in-house". They often put up firm resistance, even in cases where there is obvious negligence.

The insurers acting for package holiday firms normally contest holiday accident claims on the basis that there are lower standards of safety overseas.

One frequent example concerns slipping accidents in hotels in Southern Europe. Marble is commonly used for floors and staircases in the region, and UK holidaymakers often find such flooring excessively slippery.

Under the pre-action protocol for foreign injury claims, we have to allow the defendants 6 months in which to investigate the claim and report their decision on legal liability.

Unlike with claims arising from accidents at work or vehicle collisions, seldom do holiday injury claims reach settlement before court proceedings are issued.

The relevant law

I normally run holiday injury claims on the basis of the Package Travel Regulations, which were introduced in 1992.

Under the Regulations, a holiday injury claim can be brought in the UK, despite the injury having been sustained overseas.

For the Regulations to apply, the injured person must have purchased a package holiday. Within the price must be included both the accommodation and the flight.

If one of those two features is missing, then the only other alternative is to start the claim in the foreign jurisdiction, with the assistance of local lawyers. This can be a complex and uncertain process.

Other Case studies

I have previously dealt with claims including:

• Knee injuries suffered by a woman who collided with a glass sliding door that failed to open automatically
• A slipping accident, resulting from a swimming pool attendant allowing the pool to overflow
• Head injuries while on a "champagne dive", where the holiday rep threw a champagne bottle, striking the client on the head
• Facial lacerations suffered by a child, as a result of defective flooring at an overseas hotel.

By all means contact me if you would like to discuss making a compensation claim following an accident on holiday. I look forward to hearing from you.

Boris Kremer - personal injury solicitor, Sovereign House, Solent Way, Gosport, Hampshire UK. Tel: 0845 021 2222.

Thank you for visiting.

Holiday injury claim