Am I entitled to claim for an accident abroad?

Tour operators have a duty, under the Package Travel Regulations, to ensure that you, the holiday maker, are not exposed to an unnecessary risk of injury whilst staying in a foreign country. The transport operator is duty bound to ensure that the safety of their customers is not unduly compromised.

Likewise, those working abroad can bring a claim against an employer provided you were employed by a company based in the United Kingdom (at the time of your accident) or your employer has a registered office or place of business within the UK.

This claim will be dealt with is the same way as an accident at work. If you work, or have worked for a foreign employer, you should seek specialist legal advice to see what options are available to you.

Had a personal injury abroad?

EPIL can help you make a compensation claim for an accident abroad. Our team have X years of experience claiming compensation following illness or accidents abroad in a wide range of circumstances, including:

• Road traffic accidents
• Food poisoning and gastric illness
• Legionnaires’ disease
• Bacterial infections
• Slips, trips and falls
• Accidents at sea
• Skiing and sports injuries
• Medical negligence
• Criminal and sexual assaults
• Hijacking and terrorist incidents
• Serious injuries
• Accidents whilst working abroad

It is worth noting that the above list is not exhaustive and there are a whole host of other accidents and illnesses and various circumstances that can be applicable.

Types of holiday illnesses

If you’ve suffered from one of the situations that we’ve mentioned above, there is a chance you may have contracted one of the following:

• Salmonella – often found in raw poultry.
• Campylobacter – a common cause of food related illnesses. It spreads very easily from uncooked to cooked foods and requires only a few bacteria to cause illness.
• Ecoli – most strains of E Coli are completely harmless to the body but there are strains that are very dangerous, in particular E Coli o157 which can be found in water supplies.
• Typhoid – this is transmitted through the ingestion of contaminated food or water and contaminated faeces.
• Cyclospora – usually caused by consuming food or water contaminated with the parasite, Cyclospora cayetanensis.
• Cryptosporidium – a parasite commonly known as “Crypto.” Protected by an outer shell, this parasite is particularly resistant to chlorine disinfectant, and is commonly spread through consumption of unclean water.
• Bacteria such as campylobacter, E. coli and salmonella are the most common causes of holiday sickness.

Large groups of hotel guests often get ill at the same time because they’ve all eaten from the same buffet, particularly on All Inclusive holidays.

Package holiday accident claims

If you were injured in an accident or became ill whilst you were on a package holiday, it is important to determine whether you are covered by the Package Travel, Package Holidays and Package Tour Regulations 1992.

Your holiday could be covered under these regulations if it includes a combination of at least two of the following examples:

• Your accommodation, transfers/transport, or any other type of tourist service that is not part of the accommodation and or transport. For example, a planned activity or a particular excursion. It’s key to remember that at least two of these must have been arranged prior to your trip as part of a package.
• If you paid for the holiday as part of one single invoice to a single company.
• Overnight accommodation lasted for more than 24 hours.
• Legionnaires disease
• Food poisoning
• Bereavement award
• Funeral expenses
• Medical expenses