Many of us are preparing to set off on holiday soon, for what we hope will be a highly enjoyable experience of great weather, good food and relaxing away from work. However, while you were doing your research on the perfect destination and comparing costs between tour operators, you might have noticed increasing news coverage on holiday sickness claims, and for good reason. Find out more about why these types of compensation claims have been in the news recently, and what happens if you fall ill whilst on holiday.
Rise in claims
Personal injury claims from holidaymakers seeking compensation are not new, however there have been increasing numbers of false claims of late which has prompted the extra news coverage, where the claimants are being caught out by their fabrications and dishonest reporting of what actually happened on holiday in order to financially gain from the experience through compensation claims. Up until recently, there was no cap on the compensation which could be claimed, leaving tour operators to pay out significant amounts of money to holidaymakers who claimed to suffer an illness whilst on holiday.
New legislation
Claiming compensation for being sick on holiday when this never happened is fraud, and due to the increasing number of bogus claims made in recent years, new legislation has been introduced which will limit the amount of compensation received for this type of claim. These fixed recoverable costs will impact many package holidays booked this summer, and will allow tour operators to crack down on fraudulent claims. The good news for holidaymakers however is that this is helping tour operators to control costs, so may result in more affordable holidays in the future.
What to do if you have a genuine compensation claim?
Of course, not every claim will be a fraudulent one and if you feel like you have a genuine reason to seek compensation for an incident that happened while you were on holiday, why not speak to our team? Genuine reasons for seeking compensation could include food poisoning incidents or becoming ill due to an infection from poorly maintained swimming pool areas in your hotel.
As with any compensation claim, the more detail you can bring to us the better. Tell us the dates and times of the illness or infections, what medical treatment you received, how long the symptoms lasted and any out of pocket expenses incurred while you were ill. We will review all the facts you bring to us and advise you if you have a solid case for seeking compensation, after which we will begin to recover these costs for you from your tour operator.
The amount of compensation you receive will vary based on individual events and circumstances, but should you have questions about making a claim, please just get in touch with us to find out more.