Legal News

A three-year-old boy from Kent spent 10 days in intensive care in hospital in Turkey fighting for his life, after a speaker fell from a hotel balcony and landed on his head.

Stanley Burch from Rainham was on holiday with his parents and five-year-old sister at the Yasmin Resort in the popular Turkish holiday destination Bodrum.

He sustained a fractured skull and bleeding on the brain and underwent emergency surgery in Turkey before being flown home to the UK last week.

The Daily Mail reports that Stanley’s parents are now considering legal action against the tour operator which sold them the holiday, travel giant Thomson.

Stanley’s father Mitchell Burch, 32, told the Mail:

“We were just sitting on the sun loungers, when the hotel's speaker fell off the balcony and onto my son's head. It was a huge speaker – at least a metre high.

“There was a massive cut on his head – it was horrendous.

'We gave statements to the police out there and we're taking action against the hotel – they haven't even apologised yet, which I think is disgusting,” said Mr Burch, who works for Thames Water.

It is reported that the little boy is recovering from the injury – which happened on June 12 – but it is too early to say whether he will suffer any long-term impairment as a result of his injury. Stanley has been left with a large scar on his forehead as a result of the surgery he underwent.

A spokesman for the tour operator Thomson said:

“We can confirm that an incident took place at the Yasmin Resort in Bodrum. As a result a child was taken to hospital.

”We are working with the hotel to conduct a full investigation to understand what happened.

“Our resort team offered every possible support and assistance whilst the family were in resort.

“Our Welfare Team based in the UK has also been in contact with the family since their return home – and they continue to offer further support.”

Making a Claim for Holiday Accidents and Illness

Holidaymakers who suffer injury or illness on a package holiday as a result of another party’s negligence are protected under the 1992 Package Travel Regulations and are usually able to make a no win no fee compensation claim for Holiday Accidents & Illness, including:

• Accidents Involving Children
• Balcony Fall Claims
• Brain Injury Claims
• Fatal Injury Claims
• Road Traffic Accident Claims
• Slip and Trip Claims
• Sports Injury Claims
• Swimming pool accidents.

Holidaymakers can also claim for holiday illness, including carbon monoxide poisoning as a result of poorly maintained apartments – and bacterial, viral or parasitic infections contracted as a result of poor hygiene or food preparation at an hotel, apartment or on board a cruise ship, including:

• Campylobacter
• Cryptosporidium
• Cholera
• E coli
• Dysentery
• Giardiosis
• Legionnaire’s disease
• Listeria
• Norovirus
• Salmonella
• Shigella sonnei.

Holiday accident and illness claimants can claim for loss of holiday enjoyment, pain and suffering, medical care, loss of earnings and holiday entitlement – as well as rehabilitation and any adaptations to the home, and out-of-pocket expenses, including medical care in resort, travel to hospital for further treatment in the UK and prescription costs.

Duncan Lewis Personal Injury Solicitors – Holiday Accidents & Illness

Duncan Lewis is a leading firm of personal injury solicitors and can advise holidaymakers injured on a package holiday or cruise – or who fall ill with holiday food poisoning on a package holiday or cruise – on how to make a no win no fee compensation claim.

Personal injury claimants usually have three years from the date of injury in which to make no win no fee compensation claims against a tour operator or other negligent party – and children can claim compensation up to the age of 21.

For expert legal advice on no win no fee compensation claims for Holiday Accidents & Illness, contact Duncan Lewis personal injury solicitors on 020 7923 4020.