No matter where you are in the world, injuries happen, and the more active we are, the more likely we are to get injured. Take for example sporting activities arranged by holiday reps whilst in your hotel resort; from volleyball, to football, or even archery, people are injured every year whilst participating in an arranged activity whilst on holiday. Just as many people get injured on excursions, whilst on holiday. None of us are experts in scuba diving, or snorkelling, and yet we book an excursion, and two days into our dream holiday, we are 20 feet under water, with very little or no training at all. Pre-booked trips and excursions should all be part of the fun of a package holiday, but if you are injured, the fact that you are in a foreign country makes your injury all the more distressing. Whether you have bene injured in a cycling accident abroad, a swimming accident, accident at a foreign water park, while on an excursion exploring ancient ruins, that were booked through your travel agent in this country, or through your holiday rep whilst on your foreign holiday, then you may be able to make a claim for personal injury compensation. Many of the injuries that are sustained on excursions, and while participating in sporting activities abroad are usually caused by hotel staff and travel representatives' negligence- it is often the case that within minutes of drinking a pina colada around the swimming pool, you are snorkelling, on a quad bike, or participating in a fitness class organised by holiday reps and your travel provider, with very little training, no protective equipment, or equipment that is defective, faulty or that doesn’t fit you. 

 

The most common injuries sustained whilst on an excursion in a foreign country are trips, slips and falls, due to your surroundings being unfamiliar, or no warnings given as to the risks of the area you are venturing into, such as rocky inclines, uneven paving or roads that can cause slips, trips and falls.  

 

Unfortunately, many of the injured clients MG Legal’s personal injury team have acted for, have been injured as a result of a road traffic accident in a foreign country, due to the negligence of the coach driver, employed by your package tour operator. As the coach driver was employed by the tour operator, and the excursion was booked through the tour operator, in the UK, or through the tour operator’s rep whilst in the foreign country, our expert road traffic accident solicitors were able to obtain personal injury compensation for our clients. If you have booked a sporting activity whilst on your foreign holiday, including everything from diving off a ship, quad biking, and climbing mountains, and suffered personal injury as a result of the tour operators, or their agent’s negligence, then you may have a claim for personal injury, and MG Legal’s expert holiday activity and excursion solicitors can help you with your claim for personal injury compensation, and to seek reimbursement of the cost of your holiday. 

 

The most common types of injuries our personal injury solicitors have won compensation for clients injured on excursions or partaking in sporting activities on package holidays are: 

• Whiplash injuries to the neck, back and shoulders, arising out of road traffic collisions, when the driver of the coach they were a passenger on, collided into another vehicle. 

• More serious injuries arising out of road traffic accidents, including cuts, lacerations, and scarring resulting from smashed glass and items on the vehicle on which they were traveling. 

• Head injuries, resulting from diving accidents, including bumps and bruises sustained in the swimming pool to more serious debilitating injuries to the head, neck and spine, resulting from diving injuries, for which the holiday tour operator did not carry out any appropriate training. 

• Broken bones, including arms, legs and toes, resulting in injuries from jet skiing, and quad biking, where the equipment has been defective and our client has been flung from the equipment, or no training was given prior to our client setting off on the equipment, causing them to be injured. 

• Injuries causing damage to teeth, requiring dental work abroad, as a result of a client being hit in the face with golfing equipment, whilst on a pre-booked golfing excursion, on a package holiday. 

Sometimes on holiday, especially all -inclusive holidays, during which all the food and beverages, including alcohol, are included in the price we pay to the tour operator, we can become ill. What happens when a resort is trying to cater for thousands of people a day, is that the hygiene control, cleanliness of cooking equipment and utensils, and maintenance of food storage equipment, such as refrigerators and freezers, can quickly become forgotten, and when combined with the hot temperatures of a foreign climate, fresh meat, produce and vegetables can become unfit for human consumption. Food poisoning and associated illnesses are among the major injuries that people encounter when on their foreign holiday. 

 

Food poisoning may be caused due to various reasons including but not limited to: 

• Drinking wate, provided by the resort, but the water has not been subject to a filtration process, and therefore causes sickness and diarrhea. 

• Undercooked food; 

• Food that has been left out in the warm temperature too long 

• Lack of sanitation and improper cleaning of premises where you are staying; 

• Negligence on the part of the hotel staff by using out-of-date food for cooking. 

 

Food poisoning can cause sickness, diarrhea, dehydration, and nausea, can seriously ruin the enjoyment of the holiday you have looked forward to all year. 

 

If you have suffered an illness on holiday, by eating food out of your hotel resort, while on an excursion, booked through your travel operator in the UK, or holiday rep, whilst on your holiday, and you have evidence that your illness was as a result of the negligence of the tour operator, their employees, or the hotel you are staying at, then give our personal injury experts a call, and we will walk you through the process of bringing a no win no fee, personal injury on holiday compensation claim. 

 

Claims for holiday illness are pursued subject to the Package Travel Regulations and common law negligence, and, as it Is food at the resort that you made you ill, then the food supplied by the hotel was not of satisfactory quality for the purposes of section 4(2) of the Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982, the tour operator in breach of their statutory duty under that Act. 

 

MG Legal’s personal injury solicitors deal with all elements of personal injury, in this country, and if you sustained a personal injury on a package holiday, abroad or in the UK, then we can help you, too. 

If you have been injured during the course of a holiday activity or excursion, during the course of a package holiday, then MG Legal’s team of holiday compensation specialists have prepared a little guide, so you know what to do if you are injured, and want to make a claim for personal injury: 

 

If you or a member of your family are seriously injured, then you should seek medical attention immediately. If you can, contact a first-aider at the hotel, or resort, and make sure, if you cannot speak the local language, that your holiday rep, or a employee of the resort assists you when an ambulance arrives, or the local GP comes to assist you. 

 

If you are able to do so, take photos of whatever caused you to be injured, whether its faulty equipment, quad bike that’s fallen on you, something you have tripped on around the pool, or a sharp object, such as broken glass, a broken sun lounger. Evidencing the thing that caused you to be injured is key, and if you are unable to take photographs, ask a family member, or friend, to do so. Ensure that you date stamp the photographs, or if taken on your mobile ‘phone, that the metadata is kept. 

 

Take photos of your injuries, immediately after the incident occurred, and keep a diary, on a day to day basis, of your injuries, showing how you are recovering. Again, ensure that the photos are date stamped, or that your mobile ‘phone keep the metadata to prove that the date of the injury. 

 

Obtain the names and addresses of any witnesses to the incident. If you are on a pre-booked excursion, keep the tickets, and details of the booking, through your travel company, and make sure that the holiday rep is aware of your injuries, and that the holiday rep assists you to get medical attention. 

 

Report the incident, and the fact that you are injured, to the excursion provider, or those who arranged the sporting activities you were part of when you were injured. Make sure that the travel provider, and holiday representative put your injury in an accident report, and that you are happy with the accident report, prior to signing and dating it. 

 

If you have suffered any out of pocket expenses as a result of your injury, then make sure that you keep any receipts for these items. You may have travel insurance that will cover the cost of any medical, of hospital treatment, but you may be required to pay for any treatment immediately, and recoup any monies paid out for medical treatment from your holiday insurance, at a later date. 

 

Contact MG Legal, and one our holiday injury specialists will be more than happy to answer any questions that you have, and walk you through the personal injury claims process. 

The chances are, that if you booked your holiday in the UK, and you booked and paid for the flight, hotel, and transport to and from the airport, either online, or when you attended the travel agent, or tour operator, in the UK, then your holiday was a package holiday. There are lots of travel operators offering package holidays, with the most popular being Virgin, Tui, Easy Jet and First Choice. There are lots of other package holiday providers, so if you are unsure, just contact one of G Legal’s personal injury solicitors, and we will be able to advise you if your holiday was a package holiday, or not. 

The Judicial Studies Board gives guidance as to the amount of compensation you are likely to be awarded if you were ill or injured, on an excursion, or during an activity on holiday, and you were injured as a result of someone else’s negligence. 

At the moment, the 15th Edition of the Judicial Studies Board Guidelines is the most up to date, and it values injuries as follows: 

 

Shoulder Injuries 

Severe shoulder injuries, resulting in serious shoulder, neck or arm symptoms, are valued, for the injury alone, and not including any compensatory award for loss of enjoyment of your holiday, or that of your family between £18,020, and £45,070. 

 

Damage to teeth 

Where an injury on a package holiday abroad has resulted damage to teeth, resulting in significant, chronic, tooth pain, with a prognosis before you are to be fully recovered, being estimated at a number of years, the average awards, for your injury alone, is up to £35,790. 

 

Toe Injuries 

Injuries to toes are commonplace among travellers abroad, and are often caused by a lack of signage in a swimming pool, advising which is the shallow end, and which is the deep end. Often people dive in and suffer a personal injury to their head, or they kick the swimming pool floor, breaking toes in the process. Moderate toes injuries, including relatively straightforward fractures or cuts and bruising to one or more toes, is valued, for the personal injury compensation alone, at up to £9,010. 

 

Head injuries 

If you have suffered minor head injuries, for example, after falling off a jet ski, or fallen off a poorly secured inflatable, supplied by the travel operator, then the damages for personal injury to the head, are based on the severity of your injury, the period taken to recover, the extent of continuing symptoms, and the presence of headaches. Awards, for minor head injuries are valued between £2,070 and £11,980, with serious head injuries, with the injured person suffering from disability, and requiring care, are valued at up to £264,650, for the injury alone, and before any claim for lost earnings, future loss of earnings, treatment, care, house and car adaptation, and loss of congenial employment, are taken into account. 

MG Legal are a small firm of solicitors that limit the amount of personal injury clients we work for, in order to keep all of our clients completely happy. Unlike huge firms of solicitors, that have tens of thousands of clients, and employ untrained staff, and don’t respond to emails, or ‘phone calls, when you instruct MG Legal’s personal injury solicitors, you are a valued client, and we will work together to ensure you receive the most personal injury compensation possible. Our reviews speak for themselves, and our clients love the work we do.