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Personal Injury Solicitors

How to make a claim for holiday illness (25 July 2014)

Date: 25/07/2014
Duncan Lewis, Personal Injury Solicitors, How to make a claim for holiday illness

Every year thousands of holidaymakers have their holidays ruined as a result of falling ill with preventable illnesses on package holidays.

Under the Package Travel Regulations 1992, holidaymakers who book package holidays are protected if they fall ill on holiday as a result of the negligence of their tour operator.

If you have booked a package holiday, your travel agent will issue you with an ATOL certificate at the time of booking – or if you book a package holiday online, you will download and print out an ATOL certificate.

Tour operators have a legal duty to make sure accommodation included in a package holiday is of a reasonable standard – and that it is safe and clean so that holidaymakers are not injured or become ill.

• Public areas in a hotel or apartment must be kept clean – including dining room surfaces and public WCs.

• Food must be stored, prepared and cooked so that holidaymakers do not contract food poisoning as a result of preventable bacterial or parasitic infections.

• Swimming pool water must be tested daily and disinfected with agents such as chlorine to prevent infections.

However, lapses in hygiene and cleanliness at a package hotel can result in serious food poisoning symptoms, such as headache, fever, stomach cramps, vomiting and diarrhoea.

Severe cases of holiday food poisoning can lead to dehydration requiring hospital treatment.

Common holiday food poisoning infections

Some of the most common holiday food poisoning infections are:

• Amoebic dysentery
• Campylobacter
• Cryptosporidium (the “swimming pool” holiday illness)
• E.coli
• Giardia lamblia
• Salmonella
• Shigella sonnei.

Some holidaymakers may have mild symptoms of holiday food poisoning, but often symptoms can be severe, including blood-streaked vomit and diarrhoea.

A simple test for dehydration is to pinch the skin on the back of your hand – it should spring back, but if not drink more water and seek medical help, especially if you feel dizzy and confused, which are also symptoms of dehydration.

Always seek medical help for holiday illness if symptoms last for more than 24-48 hours and/or are especially severe (passing diarrhoea or vomiting every hour or
two).

In the case of infants and children, the elderly – or vulnerable holidaymakers with a chronic condition or illness (eg heart disease, cancer, HIV/Aids or auto-immune conditions) – always seek medical advice if they develop symptoms of food poisoning on holiday.

What to do if you fall ill on a package holiday

• Report any instances of poor hygiene at your hotel and any subsequent illness to your holiday representative in resort. If they take no action, you can email the customer services department of your tour operator in the UK – keep any correspondence about your illness

• Take images and videos of lapses in hygiene which might have caused your illness eg; dirty dining rooms, swimming pools, public WCs

• Seek medical help in resort and keep any receipts for prescriptions or travel to a doctor/hospital

• Remember that different medications and even natural remedies like ginger can cause problems if taken together, so seek the advice of a pharmacist before you self-medicate for food poisoning symptoms if you are already on prescribed drugs (eg Warfarin). Contact your GP or NHS Direct in the UK for advice if you cannot get to a doctor or pharmacist in your holiday resort

• Ask fellow holidaymakers if they have been ill – if so, take contact details to back up your claim and in case those who have been ill at your hotel would like to make a no win no fee group claim for holiday illness

• When you return to the UK, seek a diagnosis from your GP – some gastrointestinal infections like Salmonella can recur and long-term symptoms can lead to more serious conditions such as post-infective irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) or Crohn’s disease

• Be careful what you say if the tour operator phones you when you return home – do not agree a settlement or admit you are “much better” because you feel under pressure to be pleasant on the phone

• Sometimes a tour operator’s own claims defence lawyers will phone holidaymakers who complain about illness or injury – but you may think you are speaking to a customer services agent on the phone who has called to see how you are feeling. Do not accept a settlement or feel you have to play down your symptoms because the person on the other end of the phone has shown concern for you. Anything you say could be used against you if you do make a claim or symptoms get worse.

• Call Duncan Lewis personal injury solicitors on 020 7923 4020 to discuss making a no win no fee holiday illness claim as soon as you can – especially if you feel under pressure from the tour operator to settle the claim for a modest sum, or even holiday vouchers for another holiday. Your claim could be worth much more than holiday vouchers, but the tour operator is likely to try and limit the value of any claim as soon as possible.

Call Duncan Lewis personal injury solicitors and let our specialist holiday illness claims team deal with the tour operator for you while you concentrate on getting better.

Duncan Lewis Personal Injury Solicitors – Holiday Accidents & Illness

Duncan Lewis personal injury solicitors have a successful track record in winning maximum compensation for holidaymakers who fall ill on package holidays as a result of lapses in hygiene or food preparation at their package holiday hotel.

Duncan Lewis holiday illness claims lawyers accept claims for holiday illness compensation on a no win no fee basis.

Holiday illness claimants have three years from the date of the illness in which to make a no win no fee compensation claim – children who fall ill on holiday as a result of poor hygiene at their hotel can make a claim up to three years after the age of 18.

For expert legal advice on no win no fee Holiday Accidents & Illness Claims, call Duncan Lewis personal injury solicitors on 020 7923 4020.


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