You shouldn’t suffer any serious injuries while on vacation, however, it’s an unfortunate fact that every year thousands of tourists do return home battered, bruised, on crutches or, in extreme cases, on a gurney.
Of course, you will have travel insurance cover in place while on vacation, but in some cases, this won’t cover the injury you have suffered. If that’s the case you will need to contact your lawyer once home. Here you will find the most common vacation accidents that aren’t fully covered by your travel insurance and why you will need a lawyer once home.
Car Accidents
Hundreds of thousands of vacationers suffer from car accident trauma every year. The same rules for personal injury claims apply whether you are home or away. If you have hired a car and cause an accident your medical bills and car repairs should be covered but nothing else. However, if you are hit by a car or on the receiving end in an auto smash you can use your lawyer once home to launch a personal injury case. Make sure you have a copy of the police report and, if possible, take plenty of pictures as this will help your case. As serious accidents often end up with a loss of earnings and more medical bills once the travel insurance has expired, these losses are also damages that your lawyer will try to recover on your behalf.
Slip (Trip) and Fall Accidents
A hard one to prove but once again, plenty of photos will help. If you slip due to broken tiles at a swimming pool or twist your ankle due to a public walkway not being properly maintained you could have a case for personal injury. However, if you were drunk at the time or found to have been acting in an inappropriate manner, you won’t have much of a case. Witnesses are often key in vacation accident claims and getting names, addresses, phone numbers etc will be a big help.
Food Poisoning
One of the most common mishaps on vacation is a bout of food poisoning. This can be a very unpleasant experience which only rarely has any significant long term problems. The effects usually wear off after 24 hours without any medical treatment being needed. However, if you have a food allergy and have unwittingly eaten something that wasn’t labelled properly it’s a different story. Severe food allergies can kill, and if you have taken all precautions to ensure you don’t eat anything you shouldn’t, but still fall ill, a trip to your lawyer is a must. Again, gather as much evidence as possible and any witnesses will be helpful too. This could be somebody who heard you ask if a dish contained peanuts, for example, was told it didn’t, and you then ended up in the emergency room as it clearly did.
These are only a few examples of how an accident can ruin your vacation, and still affect you once home. If you or a member of your party has suffered any kind of injury while on vacation have a chat with your lawyer. If somebody is to blame you may well be able to make a claim for compensation.
