August 18, 2006
Holidaymakers tempted to ride hired mopeds on pot hole-ridden roads or try hang-gliding over their favourite sun-drenched resort are being urged by a Norwich solicitor to reconsider the risks – or to make sure they are at least properly insured against the possibility of a crippling accident.
Rosemary Escott, head of the personal injury department at city-based law firm Hatch Brenner, warned that many summer holidays invariably turned sour as a result of tragic accidents for which the victims were not always even covered by insurance.
“With the school holidays under way many people are going off on holiday to different countries, and unfortunately accidents do happen,” said Mrs Escott, a member of the Law Society’s specialist personal injury panel. “Most holiday claims relate to road accidents, but it is not unknown for people to fall off balconies or to dive into the shallow end of a swimming pool and end up paralysed from the neck down.
“Sometimes accidents result from people getting drunk, sometimes they forget they’re supposed to be driving on the other side of the road.
“If people fancy paragliding, watersports, or riding a moped without a helmet on a pot-hole ridden road they should probably think twice. If they still want to go ahead they should remember that if an accident happens the situation can be compounded if they haven’t got proper insurance.
“Activities such as watersports are often excluded from holiday insurance policies, but most people either don’t read the small print, or, if they do, they don’t bother to pay any extra premiums because they think it won’t happen to them – until it does.”
One way in which holidaymakers can potentially give themselves extra protection is by booking coach trips or other excursions at the same time as the rest of their holiday package whenever possible.
“If you go on a package holiday you can often sue the tour operator if something goes wrong, but excursions can be a bit of a grey area if you book once you’re at the resort,” said Mrs Escott. “Some of the more reputable holiday companies do say that if you book an excursion in the resort with one of their uniformed staff they will pay out in the event of an injury.
“The golden rule when booking any package holiday is to make sure you read and keep the terms and conditions. The terms of package holidays change all the time, and the waters can become very muddy as to what your terms were if you make a claim but haven’t kept your brochure. If you’re booking online you should always download the terms and conditions and keep them.
“Of course, a lot of people nowadays don’t book package holidays – they book their flights, and then book accommodation separately, but if you haven’t got the protection of a reputable holiday operator it’s all the more reason to make sure you’re properly insured.”
Another tip when booking excursions in resort is to pay by credit card if possible, because if something goes wrong it may be possible to make a claim against the credit card company. A recent ruling by the Court of Appeal has confirmed that this applies when the card is used abroad, as well as in the UK.
