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.

Usually, as in the vast majority of cases (and has been for many, many decades), it's a bunch of lads getting pissed up and trying to impress some girls on another balcony. It's exactly why insurance doesn't cover the consequences of being drunk - long term data on the medical condition or post mortems has shown the vast majority of cases are where somebody is under the influence of drugs and/or alcohol.

Occasionally, it's due to somebody who doesn't live in a flat not realising the risk it poses to a child to leave the balcony door unlocked or open overnight, thinking they will wake up when the child does or sleeping unusually heavily, perhaps after a broken night's sleep due to the child or the heat.

Awful whatever way you look at it - but it's not increasing, it's always happened and two in a week is not anything remarkable; when I used to deal with travel insurance claims, there could be 4-5 in a week just for two of the tour operators that marketed to a younger clientele rather than families (and not 18-30, either - a lot of insurers wanted nothing to do with them at all due to the regularity with which it happened).

My 11yr old was just the same. Really leaning over a low balcony rail. The rail was very wobbly and the concrete around it was broken. Again at 11 you would think they could see the danger but mine couldn't.

We own a property in Spain and delibrately bought the Ground Floor as we had small DC. It didn't look like it was possible to squeeze through the ballustrades but DD managed it once.
We were invited for a drink by someone in a penthouse once and I was a nervous wreck the whole time.
My thoughts are with this poor boys family

It's the weather. We spend much less time on balconies in the UK.

I had a look and min railing height both here and in Spain is 1100mm( about 3ft 7) I suspect there has been an EU directive at some point. I have a small balcony and as I’m bored have given it a quick measure and it’s 1400 mm which is 4ft 7. Which is rib height on me at 5ft 11 and feels very safe. I rarely encounter a waist height balcony in UK so think we tend to choose to build higher but it’s not mandatory.

I think part of it is that balconies are fairly unusual in the UK. In mainland Europe it is very common to have a flat with a balcony and I would guess parents are more aware of the dangers.

On holiday the first thing we do if we have a balcony is rush out to see the sea view or any view.
In always a kill joy asking them to go back and not put pressures on it etc in case it's loose or rusty

It's really dangerous because not everyone is used to balcony or their dangers.

All of the above.

Not Spain, but in a similar vein. I was staying in the Dominican Republic, out touring for a couple of days, and heading back on the third day the island was hit by the edge of a huge tropical storm that seemed to come out of nowhere. A difficult journey back, slowly and with lots of stops (in safe shelters) when the storm was very bad. Torrential rain, major lightening directly overhead, and reports of tornadoes across the island. Got back to the hotel to find loads of Brit tourists sharing their video footage of the (quite large) beach bar being lifted off the beach, thrown over the top of the hotel site and onto the dual carriageway outside the hotel. Yep, they'd all been very busy standing on their balconies or outside taking video of the tornadoes ripping across the beach / hotel whilst the staff tried to explain to them what the storm shelters were for! And ignoring the signs in English in every room that said that in the event of a major storm or hurricane either take shelter in the bathroom or in one of the storm rooms handily marked on the sign.

I think honestly we don’t have balconies here. Even in my years of flat living, I’ve never lived anywhere with a balcony.

We lived in a modern new flat with one - it was very big and sturdy high rails and very much part of building more like a small patio in air style.

DMum was surpised when she saw it as balconies she thought of were black metal regency style ones common in nearby town to us sort of tacked on outside. Those ones if poorly maintained can be lethal- I think there was a big accident at some point in news years ago with that style in London - party people pilled on it and it went. One in our neaby town are usually converted into flats or student accomodation - and not often used.

She'd been worried about us on the balcony and I hadn't understood why - as soon as she saw it - no more worry.

Maybe it's the balcony style - maybe people being careless on holiday - drink in some cases.

There’s been an 8 year old girl in the news today who also fell, though in this country. The balcony was full of rubbish that she was climbing on and the mother was smoking weed, so they were arrested for child neglect but no charges made.

There may be other nationalities falling from balconies but we won’t hear about it as it’s not “newsworthy”, if they’re German or Russian.

(Usually lads) blottoed on drink and drugs and not being careful. You wouldn’t leave a child on a balcony, but similarly a heavily drunk/drugged person doesn’t realise the consequences of stupidity.

I’m less inclined to think it’s sinister and they were pushed.

The balcony on our holiday was very sturdy and the railing/ledge was like a thick stone wall. There was seating and loungers out there so it was almost an extension of the room and all the families were using the balconies all the time. It looked perfectly safe. Just didn’t expect my stepdaughter to hoist herself up on it 😱 I spent the rest of the holiday torturing myself looking for places where someone could potentially fall (there were so so many). But normally it would have involved actively climbing up onto a wall or ledge.

I'm not from the UK, but I mentioned that a friend of mine was going to Benidorm. One person said "oh, the place where brits kump of balconies" and everyone nodded.

I'd say alcohol and stupidity. And since it has become a "thing" that brits do, that eggs on the stupid lads to do it even more.

The minimum building requirement height for exterior balconies in Spain is 1.1metres 1100 mm .

I think part of it is that balconies are fairly unusual in the UK

Are they? loads of flats have balconies.

I'd say health and safety laws are probably different

No, H&S are the same as Spain and the UK complied with EU regs (obv UK no longer needs to).

It's just a case of people not engaging their brains for whatever reason.

It's not unusual for people on holiday to let their guard down & overindulge

Just before DS turned 2 we stayed in an air bnb in Lisbon. His godfather stayed with us and organised the accommodation. It was a third floor apartment. When he sent the pictures, the first thing I noticed were the huge sliding windows, behind the sofa that fully opened, where an unsupervised toddler or drunk adult could easily fall out of. We only stayed a few nights but I was hyper vigilant the whole time. Certainly not a feature I’ve seen in any UK homes.

Other Europeans have a meal out, then go to clubs/bars to drink. The food helps to reduce the impact of alcohol.

British people drink on an empty stomach so get drunk quicker. Then eat, which is pointless.

Let's instantly blame the parents whom we know nothing about. It could just be excited 8 year old ran out on to the balcony and fell.

We have hardly any balconies in the UK and rarely the weather to go out on them if we do

In London there are shitloads of high rises with balconies.

Just noticed that the victim is a boy of 8, no booze involved.

In the UK, most people never have a balcony to stand, sit etc on. Some 3 storey houses down my road have pointless 'Juliet' balconies. So having a balcony where you are staying, is a bit of a novelty. I certainly found this around this boy's age.

Also the H&S in foreign countries isn't as strict compared to the UK.

One hotel I stayed at, the floor of the balcony dipped in the middle as there was a drain. Once I tripped and held onto a chair. Someone with a poor reaction time - child, older person, someone under the influence of alcohol, may not be as lucky.

Combination of factors. There was also a TikTok craze a few years back of balcony jumping, no idea if it’s still in vogue.
not being aware of the dangers, children climbing and then losing balance, often you can put your foot on the balustrade and lean over, leaning too far and I guess it’s possible to over balance.
adults drink, drugs, misjudging the width/ height of the jump. Doing something for a dare, lots of reasons. it’s not just the Brits, there was a graph last year which showed the nationalities with the heighest mortality rates, Uk followed by Germany and I can’t remember the subsequent countries.

I was in Spain 25 years ago and a Belgian lad fell off his balcony in the same hotel I was staying in.

I imagine we hear more about the ones who are our own nationality.

Although EU regulations are the same, that mainly refers to products, food additives etc - building regulations are not the same, and I do think there is a different attitude to safety in mainland Europe. I live in Germany and it's not unusual to have train tracks next to foot/cycle paths with very minimal fencing, sometimes none at all. There are fewer lifeguards on duty in swimming pools. The soft play centre would give you a heart attack, especially the go kart track. We once went to a children's festival where one of the activities was to climb up a rickety bit of scaffolding and jump off onto a pile of crash mats. The Kindergarten events (so, for children 2-6) frequently involved open flames (they have stopped giving them actual tealights in their lanterns now but they still have fire pits). Massive ferris wheels don't appear to have to have solidly closing doors. The lift in our old building didn't have an automatic external door, you had to push it manually, and this is not unusual especially in buildings from the 60s/70s. Smoke alarms were only required by law in rental properties starting about 10 years ago. Trams don't totally stop before the doors begin to open (less so on the newer models). I remember being utterly astonished when we first moved, to visit the local swimming pool and notice a plugged in, old fashioned TV set stood on a wobbly table between the deep end of the pool and the toddler splashing area, with the cable trailing everywhere like some kind of illustration in a spot the hazard pamphlet. That was a few years ago now and I'm sure it would have been roundly condemned by any safety inspection, but it was still like that for several months.

It's rare you'll see things which are deceptively dangerous but I do think there is a general expectation that people should be aware of safety hazards and if a hazard is considered obvious, then it's considered less important to regulate against it.

But TBH I don't trust building safety regulations to be maintained in the UK any more either, not since Grenfell.