Accidents on Holiday and How to Recover Personal Injury Compensation

If you have accidents on holiday (either in the UK or abroad) and want to pursue personal injury claims, as long as the "holiday package" was booked through a tour operator in the UK and what you were doing at the time of the accident was part of that package, then you may be able to make an injury compensation claim against the tour operator for your injuries and any related financial losses. In this situation the personal injury compensation claim would fall under the jurisdiction of the Courts of England and Wales and can therefore be handled by any UK solicitors experienced in personal injury claims.

Under the Package Travel, Package Holidays and Package Tours Regulations 1992 a tour operator can be held responsible for all of the services provided as part of a package holiday. This can include:-

a) hotel accommodation - including the food provided and any facilities, such as swimming pools;

b) cruises;

c) air travel;

d) coach or car transfers;

e) excursions booked as part of the main holiday package.
The Regulations state that a "package" means:-

"The pre-arranged combination of at least two of the following components when sold or offered for sale at an inclusive price and when the service covers a period of more than twenty-four hours or includes overnight accommodation -

a) transport;

b) accommodation;

c) other tourist services not ancillary to transport or accommodation and accounting for a significant proportion of the package".

If you booked the holiday using a credit card you will have additional protection and may also be able to direct the injury compensation claim to the credit card provider.

The Regulations relate to all package holidays, whether taken abroad or in the UK, and also offer protection to business travellers.

However, it is important to note that the standards of health and safety that apply in the UK are not always matched by the standards applied in other countries. The criteria for success will depend on whether the local standards of health and safety are met. If those standards are not high, a personal injury compensation claim is likely to fail.

It is also important to be aware that the Regulations do not apply to all foreign personal injury claims. If you booked travel and accommodation separately, then any injury compensation claim would have to be pursued against the negligent party direct using the local legal system.

The same applies if you booked a local excursion to visit a place of interest and you suffered an injury because of the negligence of the day tour provider. Only if the excursion was booked through your UK tour operator when the holiday was arranged would the Regulations be available to protect you.

Of course, if you were on a UK package holiday and for example took a spur of the moment boat trip, and suffered an injury because of the owner's negligence, you would not have to rely on the Regulations as the owner should have their own insurance to settle any personal injury claims.

Whatever the basis of the claim for personal injury compensation, it is always prudent to take advice from experienced accident claims solicitors, who can usually offer a free, no win no fee service.