Our experts are prepared to advise you on any illness or injury claims which occur in the UK or whilst on holiday.

A holiday abroad can be relaxing and enjoyable, however there are instances where you may fall ill as a result of another party’s negligence. An illness abroad on holiday can be devastating and distressing, creating potentially serious health issues, and ruining precious leisure time on holiday.

Many of the most common holiday illnesses occur in large hotels or on cruise ships. Although it may often be difficult to predict the legal success of these types of claims, especially in cases where only one guest falls ill, instructing the right legal expert could help to shift the balance in your favour.

Group claims

Sometimes, it makes practical sense for potential claimants to make claims together on holiday illness claims, especially where the claim might be complicated and/or where the claim cannot perhaps be brought in the English courts.

Specialist and experienced advice is strongly recommended for holiday sickness these types of claims. Such claims are rarely straightforward are heavily reliant upon experience in dealing with medical experts and local standards experts of in the country and location where the incident occurred.

Why Axiom DWFM?

Our Holiday illness department is led by Suki Chhokar, who has many years of specialist experience in obtaining compensation for holiday illness claim clients. You can be assured that Suki is an expert and well renowned in the holiday illness sector.

Most claims are entirely avoidable if health and safety rules are followed, so if you’ve become sick on holiday our solicitors may be able to help you claim compensation.

Who owes a duty of care to you on holiday?

Tour operators (where you book through them), hotels, cruise ships or restaurants will all have a legal duty of care over their premises.

Common holiday illness claim types

The most common travel sickness claims relate to :-

• Food poisoning generally and gastroenteritis
• Salmonella
• Norovirus
• Legionnaires disease
• Bacterial infections
• E-coli
• Carbon monoxide poisoning

Package Holiday Regulations

If you experience holiday sickness and you are travelling as part of a package holiday then you will be protected by The Package Travel, Package Holidays and Package Tours Regulations 1992. These regulations cover individual who have booked a package holiday and experience travel sickness, allowing you to claim compensation for any damage caused by the tour operator’s (or its suppliers’) failure to properly perform their contract.

A package holiday under the Regulations is a holiday, trip or excursion:

• Which lasts for a period of over 24 hours or includes overnight accommodation;
• Was paid for under one invoice to a single company;
• Includes a combination of at least two of the following which were arranged prior to the holiday commencing – Transport, Accommodation or other tourist services not related to transport or accommodation (such as sightseeing or activity events).

Where the Regulations apply the tour operator can be held directly responsible for any holiday accident and any personal injury suffered as a consequence, either within or outside the UK, providing that the accident arose through the negligence of another party. The same would apply to any holiday illness that you may suffer, for example food poisoning.

For the Regulations to apply the negligent act must be linked directly to the accommodation, travel or event that you purchased through the tour operator.

How long do holiday compensation claims take?

How long it takes to settle your travel claim will depend on the individual circumstances of your case.

It is important to note that when making a claim for an illness or injury that happened outside of the UK, we have to give the other side six months to investigate and respond on the question of liability.

In a straightforward case where the other side admits they were at fault it takes approximately 12 months to settle these types of case.

No win no fee

After a free assessment, where we find that your claim is possible in the English courts and stands a good chance of succeeding, we will generally be able to offer to represent you on a no win, no fee basis.

Where it is not possible to proceed with a claim in the English courts this may impact whether a no win, no fee arrangement would be possible. We will of course advise you on all options and the likely prospects of success prior to proceeding with your claim.

Our experts have a proven track record in holiday illness claims, including high-profile cruise illness cases such as the MS Sundream norovirus outbreak, as well as illness outbreaks at hotels such as the Alcudia Pins Hotel in Majorca and Holiday Village Turkey. Claiming compensation for something that happened overseas can seem daunting, but having the right experts on your side can make the process much easier.

Our solicitors aim to make the whole process as seamless and straightforward as possible for our clients, with plain and easy to understand advice, free of legal jargon.

Call us today on 0808 250 8752 for a free, no-obligation consultation about your case, or alternatively contact us online and we’ll get back to you.