To expect compensation from holiday company

[Ihaveausername]

Changing a few details and being vague to remain unidentifiable. My partner and I recently had a 2 week holiday somewhere warm to celebrate a birthday and anniversary. On day 2 of the holiday my husband was injured as a result of something breaking (that shouldn't have). He grazed his forearm from fingertip to elbow, slight grazing to the leg and suffered a bump to the head. He received first aid from a hotel employee including an ice pack for his head. The next few days were a write off until his wounds healed and he didn't feel so sore. I have pictures of it all and the bruises He still had 6 days later. It was reported at the time and the travel company representatives checked in on him.
On our return I submitted the photos and a report of the incident to the travel company for some kind of apology / compensation, but they have told us that is not possible as we did not get a medical report.
This seems so unfair and we are wondering if we should take it further. What are our chances? Anyone have any experience of this.

I agree that the OP should have mentioned her husband's health issues in the first post, but when neither the OP nor her husband thought the fall was serious enough to even bother seeing a doctor, let alone going to the local hospital, I don't think you can take any talk of a claim seriously. They had travel insurance, and had clearly disclosed the husband's medical history, but also didn't bother to seek advice from the insurance company. Surely anyone would realise that a medical report is necessary when making a claim as a result of injury, whether through the travel insurance company or against the hotel / tour operator.

I've agreed in an earlier post that the OP's husband made a mistake by failing to seek medical attention.

I'm finding the level of mockery that I've seen on some posts rather distressing.

Did you go to the doctor and have established fault? Completely different and irrelevant situation.

Any cause of action your DH has is against the hotel and not the travel company. Have you complained to the hotel asking them to notify their insurers of your potential claim?

It would be difficult enough to pursue a personal injury claim in this country let alone abroad. Check whether your travel insurance would cover legal proceedings for such proceedings or indeed pay out for injury? I admit to not having read the full thread to see whether you have confirmed or not whether you have travel insurance.

Having lived with the effects of my late husband's stroke for 8 years, I totally understand why no treatment was sought - like the OP's husband, my DH was stubborn and - as often happens with a stroke - this stubbornness was exacerbated by his brain injury. He had a phobia of medical settings after everything he'd been through.

In such a scenario, a wife can only hope to persuade her husband to agree to treatment - she can't force him. Unfortunately, this often means that medical help is only sought when there is an extreme crisis.

I agree that the OP is in a no-win situation - her husband should have had a check-up given the blood thinner and his head injury. He's lucky he didn't have another stroke.

Unfortunately, the lack of a medical report means that the couple are unlikely to be able to make a case. However, I agree that the holiday company should be contacted. I'm hoping that someone had the presence of mind to take a picture of the floor.

I can't see how the travel company are responsible for something the hotel did or didn't do. Doesn't your insurance cover legal as well as medical costs - when something similar happened to me my insurers legal team dealt with the hotel directly - nothing to do with the travel company.

I don't understand why, if he has underlying conditions, that he didn't see a doctor.

His fault I'm afraid

Did you report it to the travel rep?

Agreed, would have thought with thinners there would be considerable bruising, as opposed to scabbed over grazes with zero bruising after 24 hours..

There really was no injury to speak of here.

I'm 75, have a pacemaker, owing to HR of 32, atrial fib. and on bloodthinners. I won't give up my acre of garden and orchard, which leads to many injuries of varying degrees. This is a minor one, IMO. He, and you, were very silly not to have had his head checked out if it was indeed more than a tiny bump. I was hit by a falling branch while I was chainsawing a tree - it knocked my helmet off and gave me a real whack on the head. I had minor concussion, my face was purple for over a fortnight, obviously exacerbated by the bloodthinners. Not enough to put me out of action for 6 days though. Just before Christmas, I tripped over the garden hose and fell on my knee on the concrete and gravel drive. The "wound" was spectacular - my whole knee just opened up, looking like a mouth...A&E, stitches, ABs, tetanus shots. I could still get out in the garden though.

I have to admit, to be fair, any injury does shake you up a bit more than it would have done a decade ago.

Why did it take the hotel so long to repair the floor?

Oh wow OP, you are both ridiculous and grabby! That is literally a graze 🙄 Your dh chose for the next few days to be a write off 😂 he also refused to walk down the area where it happened for fear of happening again - just wow 😂

To put it in perspective - abroad, my mid teens dd slipped on a soaked shower room floor due to incorrect drainage and flow of the wet room shower area - she broke her wrist. It was xrayed, strapped up, she was in agony - but guess what? She continued with the holiday, stayed away from the pool, but carried on as best she could. She still showered every day, in the same shower room the accident happened in.

Honestly, get a grip.

With his health issues I can appreciate you both got a fright. But the instinct to see what you can claim, mention mental health is so wrong especially from your account he didn't even need to see a doctor? My dad was on blood thinners and suffered a fall he was immediately taken to a&e to be assessed so if he wasn't I'm guessing it wasn't viewed as very serious?

I am a lawyer that used to deal with claims like this. The difficulty you have is your facts are a little contradictory. On the one hand, you are saying with his medical history and medication accidents such as this are dangerous and of greater concern. Despite this, you are also also saying he refused to see a doctor at the time. If there was a real concern due to his medical history or medication - surely he would have seen a doctor at the time (especially if offered).

So you have evidence of relatively superficial injuries (grazing, bump to the head), refusal to seek medical help when offered (or any follow up for medical care at the time of the event, in the following days).

I think at best you would get an apology and some kind of voucher towards a future holiday. To get any sort of personal injury compensation you are going to need medial reports (assuming it is too late for that now).

If it was me I would let it go. You could try a strongly worded letter saying that you are concerned the hotel itself is a poor state of repair (given this sudden and unexpected breakage of the floor) and unless they give you appropriate reassurances you do feel morally obliged to warn futures guests of your experience through online review sites.

I think at best you would get an apology and some kind of voucher towards a future holiday. To get any sort of personal injury compensation you are going to need medial reports (assuming it is too late for that now). In our case, we didn’t get an apology or voucher offered either. As for personal injury, we were told it’s extremely difficult to claim for an injury that’s happened abroad as their building regs/rules etc are very different to the UK, so it’s almost impossible to apportion blame and successfully claim. I’m quite surprised you seem to think otherwise - if I’m interpreting your post correctly.

@Anonforthis58 no I probably didn't phrase myself well - I agree with you a personal injury claim here is going to be almost impossible. I was meaning, even for a typical personal injury claim you need medical evidence/medical reports of injuries - so if you don't see a doctor at all, and only have photographs of superficial injuries it is really a non-starter

Agree you then get into the complexities of it happening in a different jurisdiction, different laws etc. The best you can hope for is a good will voucher to avoid bad reviews.

Yes I realise in OP’s case it’s a complete no go. But even in other cases - ours was very cut and dried, all evidence there, yet we were still told it was a no go due to it being abroad, so I honestly struggle to see how most personal injuries can ever be claimed for 🤷‍♀️

Your comment about wanting no more comments on him not seeing a doctor and that it's his choice and you respect it etc...that's absolutely fine, but then his (lack of) actions have consequences...not having any evidence to claim being the main one.

OP stated that a first aider attended and that the incident was reported to the Travel Reps who also attended. Photographic evidence has also been provided.

In my view, that is adequate evidence of the incident occurring and the injuries sustained. OP’s DH didn’t need to see a doctor.

The insurance company can try to weasel out of paying up, but it’s definitely worth the OP pursuing it.

In my situation, I saw my GP the next day but I had already refused to go in the ambulance that turned up along with the police, as I didn’t feel it was necessary as I knew no bones were broken.

LOOOL... 6 days to recover, come off it.

Hi OP - sorry this put a downer on your holiday. I can imagine it did scare your husband, especially with recent medical issues.

I think the compensation/money is a red herring. From your posts, it reads as if the sting is that no one from/associated with the hotel checked in on you or offered an apology. That is very poor form.

I think the only thing to be taken from this going forward is thankfully your husband is okay and that if you ever (hopefully not!) have a situation like this again that you make sure you get checked over.

That’s a bit cruel, he had an accident that wasn’t his fault and that does look painful.

You honestly think those scratches look painful?? 😂😂😂😂😂