Decorating the house, running after gifts, attending holiday parties, and spending quality time with family and friends are just some of the things you can enjoy during wintertime. What you don’t look forward to is spending time in the emergency room. You need to be extra vigilant this time of the year. As you’re preparing for a dinner party or making travel arrangements, be aware of safety issues so that you and your loved ones are in good health. There are increased odds of specific types of accidents, including motor vehicle accidents, slip and fall accidents, electrical current shocks, fire hazards, and holiday decorations.
You can fall ill or sustain an accident while you’re on holiday abroad. Nobody expects a dream trip to turn into a nightmare, but an injury by the pool or food poisoning from poorly cooked hotel food can ruin your break. If it wasn’t your fault, it might be possible to make a compensation claim back home. Although the claim may be complicated, the money awarded can help you get on the road to recovery.
Whether You’re Holidaying or Working Abroad, Accidents Are Likely to Happen
Regardless of how cautious you are, accidents are unpreventable. An unfortunate incident can ruin your time away and result in short-term or long-term setbacks in your health, career, and finances. Common examples of holiday accidents include but aren’t limited to accidents at a hotel, food poisoning, injuries while using public transport, slips, trips, and falls, and airport accidents. It goes without saying that you can get into any kind of accident when you’re far away from your home country. Suffering an injury can be really stressful. You have to pay for medical care, not to mention additional travel expenses.
Here are some steps to take to ensure the best possible outcome:
- Seek immediate treatment. It doesn’t matter if you were affected by a life-threatening condition or your injuries are less severe, seek medial attention as soon as possible. Overlooking what happened is risky. In the long run, the cost of an untreated illness or injury can be much higher.
- Contact your family. Contact your loved ones and tell them what happened. You might think that they’re not prepared to handle the truth emotionally. Even so, you should disclose important information.
- Take down as much information as possible. Document the details of the accident like date, time, and specific location. This can be difficult, particularly if you’ve experienced a traumatizing event, but you’ve got to make an effort. Write down where you were injured, how you were injured, and other important pieces of information.
- Reach out to your insurance provider. Communicating makes a world of difference in the amount you collect and how fast you can get your hands on it. Sort out travel insurance and medical insurance so that you don’t pay out of pocket. You might be required to pay for a small amount, but the rest will be covered by insurance.
- Take time to recover. Most importantly, put yourself first. Allow our body to heal itself and regain physical resilience. You’re going to have to deal with many problems, and you need strength to get through hard times.
Documenting the details about the incident is important, as it helps investigators determine liability.
Hotels, Tour Operators, Airlines, And Other Holiday Service Providers Have a Legal Duty of Care Towards Their Clients
Holiday service providers have a duty to protect people through the services they offer. Hotels, tour operators, airlines, and so on, are legally responsible for ensuring a safe and healthy environment while using their services or premises. In case you didn’t already know, duty of care is a legal obligation to take reasonable steps not to cause harm to another person. Breaching duty of care is referred to as negligence, and it may result in injury to another and cause them to suffer a loss. It’s up to you to prove that the holiday service provider has breached the duty owed to you. if you’ve suffered an accident abroad, your lawyer must prove they’re to blame.
More often than not, people don’t realize that they have rights when it comes down to a holiday ruined by illness or injury. If your claim is connected to any element of the package holiday, the responsibility is that of the tour operator. Duty of care means that someone must behave and conduct themselves in a manner that’s responsible, vigilant, and safe. A lawyer can help if you begin your claim within three years of having your accident. The amount of compensation depends on the type of illness or injury you suffered, where it happened, and whether you were travelling independently or with a tour operator.
Preventing harm is (or, at least, should be) a top priority. Everything should be done to ensure safety, comfort, and security. If you’re unable to file a personal injury lawsuit yourself, the family can make the claim on your behalf. In Great Britain, a claim can be filed within three years from the date of the unfortunate incident. UK Law points out that, when a family member is mentally impaired, someone else can file the lawsuit on their behalf. The experts also draw attention to the fact that there are exceptions to the situation.
How Long Does a Compensation Claim Take?
If you really want to know, a claim can take anywhere between six to twelve months to resolve if liability is admitted by a holiday service provider. Complex cases can take longer than that. It all depends on how serious the illness/injuries are, not to mention if the other party accepts responsibility for what happened. It would be best if you talked to a lawyer, as they may be able to give you a rough idea. They will pursue justice as efficiently and quickly as possible. If you’re frightened about the legal costs, you can make a no win no fee claim.
A conditional fee agreement is an agreement where legal fees become payable only if the case is won. You do have some obligations, just to be clear. Besides the fact that you shouldn’t mislead your lawyer, you have to co-operate and act in accordance with the agreement.
