Why are English people always falling from balconies in Spain?

[Nurseychick]

Just seen a second news article about this this week?

It seems to be increasingly common, why?

We have balconies in the UK.

Lots of booze I suspect possibly balconies are allowed to be lower than here but mainly the booze.

Alcohol and sun, feeling invincible.

Drugs

Stupidity generally, enhanced by booze and/or drugs

Tequila

Letting your guard down on holiday?

Do other European young (mainly) men fall off balconies at the same rate when on holiday in Spain I wonder?

This . The British are not known for good behaviour abroad .

This is kind of unpleasant. You do know that the British boy who has just fallen this week is 8 years old? Not pissed or on drugs. An accident.

These accidents happen because people are in unfamilar surroundings.

I just googled and it's primarily young tourists from UK and Germany apparently.

Brits abroad are different to brits at home.

It's an 8 year old child! Have some compassion.

I agree that booze undoubtedly plays a big part. However the most recent is a boy of 8.

I think its partly because of the health and safety laws we have in the UK.

We are just used to things being safe and don't look for hazards.

If we grew up in an environment where fences break, and there are multiple accident hazards around every corner people will pay more attention and are more careful.

E.g. someone brought up on a country with pool fences around a pool or a good level of lifeguards at a beach or swimming pool , may take pool safety for granted when abroad.

It is very odd and I’ve noticed it seems to be a thing. Whenever my DDs go on holiday I always tell them to be careful on the balconies!!

So sorry to hear about the 8 year old child this week 😕

For some, being on holiday brings a sense of 'freedom', not taking care of your safety due to a loss of inhibitions. Add alcohol, drugs and unfamiliar surroundings, it's little wonder there's a high accident rate.

This accident being an 8 year old boy - could be due to the above re: his parents/care givers not providing adequate supervision?

Someone in my year at school died this way, when he was in his 20s. In his case, a lot of alcohol was involved, but I have also wondered if balconies in Spain might be generally less safe than ones in the UK.

Other examples

Broken rocks and boulders.

Sharp metal poles coming out of the ground.

Railings having gaps large enough for heads to get suck in between.

We are very sheltered in this country. A lot of danger from the surroudinging has been removed.

I think honestly we don’t have balconies here. Even in my years of flat living, I’ve never lived anywhere with a balcony. I think it’s the novelty, combined with guard being down/lack of sensibility on holiday and alcohol/drugs.

Sadly, the same goes even for children, not appreciating the dangers combined with parents likely drinking and in holiday mode.

We live sort of next door to a holiday cottage (it’s not properly next to us but we are the only nearby house). I once woke up from a nap to find the children from the holiday let in my lounge. Apparently, they had climbed into our chicken run to collect the eggs and were bringing them to us. 🤷🏻‍♀️ Which is great, but why are you in my house? When I returned them, the parents were so drunk they were confused and didn’t even realise they’d wandered off. It was about 2pm.

Another time I was literally in the shower and a man from the holiday let next door was outside my bathroom door asking about if we could help them because they couldn’t work out how to unlock the door. He knew we didn’t have anything to do with the house. We already had that conversation earlier in the day and we wished them a lovely holiday. But he found the door a bit sticky to lock and unlock. So he let himself in our house and was outside the bathroom door with the shower obviously running inside asking if we could come help him with the lock. Dh had to come running inside and was like wtaf are you doing?!

I think even without substances involved, a lot of people seem to park their brains at home on holiday.

I agree I think we're used to things being safe. Also its an unfamiliar environment and people are busy and tired on holiday. Just injured myself on holiday in europe and years ago I got electrocuted (midly) from a fridge I assumed would be earthed in belgium. I think its because we're less used to looking out for issues.

So sad, poor kid 😢

If a child had fallen, could be parents weren’t being vigilant, more relaxed on holiday, drinking.

Most UK families probably don’t have balconies at home

Yes the UK is very safety orientated which doesn’t carry over elsewhere. Not sure about the current tragedy, 8 years old, awful

Drunk and they think they're infallible

I expect other nationalities also fall from balconies in Spain, but it doesn't get reported in the UK.

Horrific about the boy. We went on holiday last year and stayed on the fourth or fifth floor. I was sitting on the bed and out of the corner of my eye I saw my DSD begin climbing onto the balcony railings. I didn’t want to startle her so I very calmly walked out to her and told her to just stop what she was doing and then grabbed and lifted her down and made her promise she’d never ever do that again. It honestly traumatised me and I had nightmares about it for ages. This year we’re staying on the ground floor. For those saying it’s a supervision thing yes of course but she was 7 so I wouldn’t expect her to do that in the way I would a toddler where I’d watch them like a hawk. She had no explanation for why she did it either. It still makes me feel sick to think about it so I can’t imagine what the boys parents are going through.

Honestly @Nurseychick , this is in really poor taste. MN members discussing the death of a small child , some in a judgemental way.

Maybe ask for it to be removed?