An interesting one for you...company and duty of care

[TickleMyTitsTillFriday]

I am a bit stumped! What kind of solicitor would i need to see in order to get legal advice with regards to a company failing in their duty of care to my child. I can't give too much information at the moment, but its basically a school trip company who have behaved appallingly. Happy to pm the details but probably best not to put it on here at the moment!

Thanks in advance!

[Lonecatwithkitten]

If your child was injured then personal injury would be the way to go.
If there was no injury or loss you might do better with Ofsted as thy regulate these companies.

[TickleMyTitsTillFriday]

She wasn't injured. It's definitely not ousted regulated. It's an expedition holiday company. I'm stumped but they're not getting away with it. She has suffered mentally through it all and is a different child to the one that left home

[McBear]

I believe psychological injury counts as physical injury?

[LIZS]

What does the terms and conditions say about their duty of care ? Difficult to say whether they have been culpable unless you go into more details ie. bullying, surely part of going on such holidays is to test their perceived boundaries though.

[TickleMyTitsTillFriday]

Ok bullying definitely. And giving us as patients incorrect information about what was happening. Resulting in financial loss for us as we had to go and get her. I wish I could go into more details!

[TickleMyTitsTillFriday]

Parents not patients!

[LIZS]

Mixed messages here - is it about how they treated your dc or a lack of information for parents. Could external factors have forced a change of plan for example. Whose decision was it to collect her , presumably earlier than planned ?

[TickleMyTitsTillFriday]

They said she had to come home earlier and called us and told her we had to collect her (from Africa) since she came home she has told us of how she was bullied by their employee and the reasons for sending her home are clearly untrue.

At no point were we ever told that we might have to collect her from Africa if anything happened.

She has come home a less confident child because of it.

[TickleMyTitsTillFriday]

So basically:

They lied to us as parents and worried us completely unnecessarily.

They sent her home for no good reason

She was bullied while there

[TickleMyTitsTillFriday]

And she didn't get what she'd paid for because she missed out on most of it!

[LIZS]

Will it be easy to demonstrate that or could she have misconstrued the attitude of the employee ? There should be an internal complaints process.

[TickleMyTitsTillFriday]

I think it should be very easy to prove it, the things he did were appalling. The other children are hopefully willing to make statements too.

We have complained but I'm not convinced they're taking us seriously and I am SO ANGRY!

Thanks by the way, I'm sorry to be so cryptic.

[McBear]

Their reason for sending her home was completely untrue?

[TickleMyTitsTillFriday]

We do have proof that their reasons for sending her home are unfounded...

[TickleMyTitsTillFriday]

Yes, completely untrue.

[LIZS]

So is what they told you untrue or did she give them the idea she wanted/needed to leave early if given the opportunity. Just wondering how old dc is and whether she may have been economical with the truth, to them or you. Presumably you met their employees when you collected. If they failed to deliver as promised could you go via small claims ? You could also contact the LA of wherever they are based if there are safeguarding issues.

[TickleMyTitsTillFriday]

What they told us was completely untrue. Because that is what their employee on the ground told them. Because for whatever reason he was a huge bully...
The school are being a bit shit now too although have said we will have a meeting in September.

LA might be a good idea. Would small claims cover it? I believe she is entitled to compensation for what they have put her through.

[Carterama]

She is highly unlikely to be entitled to compensation because she is upset, if she was injured through their negligence, that's a different matter. They have a responsibility to keep her safe, if they have been negligent and their negligence has caused her injury, whether physical or a psychological injury, and you can prove it, then she may recover compensation, but from the brief details posted here, it's difficult to see it in all honesty. A complaint might be the way to proceed first.
Sorry that she's had such a horrid time

[plinth]

Is it a travel company? Are they ABTA protected?

[LIZS]

So it was a school trip. If so they surely had a duty of care in safeguarding her. Has the rest of the group returned ?

[FunkyBoldRibena]

If it was a school trip can you find the terms and conditions and the complaints procedure for the company somewhere [paperwork you signed, online etc]?

[Lonecatwithkitten]

So it was organised by school, were there any school staff on the trip? If so you should be checking the school's policy on overseas trip.

[fabulousfour]

How old is she?

[TickleMyTitsTillFriday]

She is 14. Yes it was a school trip. I will check the schools policy. Yes there was a teacher there too. I will check to see if they are at a protected.

So she won't be entitled to be compensated due to the stress and upset caused and the fact she raised all he money and then was sent home early for no reason at all?!

Thanks all

[LIZS]

Assuming there is insurance then she might be able to claim for curtailment. Your first port of call should be the school/LA as agent for the trip booking.