Drinking invalidates your travel insurance if you have an accident!

[WendyWeber]

19-yr-old falls off scooter in Greece - it will cost £20,000 to bring her home

jeez, her poor parents!
if that was me I'd be stuck over there

er, yes.

I guess it depends on what they were doing and whp the insurance company is.

My sister fell off a bar dancing when on holiday one year. She had been drinkign with friends, and I suspect that was why she was stood on a bar in the first place! Sh ended up in hospital, needed an op, and was flowwn home early.

The travel insurance covered it all.

If that was one of ours she'd be stuck over there too!

It makes sense of course (esp to the insurance company ) but it never occurred to me that this would be a consequence - young people are always getting pissed & falling off balconies etc abroad, bad enough without having to pay for repatriation (I may have to ban our kids from holidays abroad now I know this)

we are going away soon and have just read the terms and conditions of our insurance and it says you are not covered if you are injured due to the effects of alcohol or drugs! had never considered that before. poor girl and her family. what a stressful time

what if you had had a drink or two and fell and injured yourself.. the sort of fall you could have anyway.. e.g due to uneven pavement or something like that.. would it still invalidate your cover?

Well quite!

Maybe it depends if they test your blood for alcohol - over the UK legal limit or something?

bloody stupid to drive thouigh

If you'd only had a drink or two, they wouldn't necessarily know.
But if you have had a RTA with no third party involved it is pretty common to have an alcotest. Especially if you are riding without a helmet!

I agree thisisyesterday.

But she's in Greece, which is EU, so presumably she would be entitled to care in hospital by the reciprocal agreement which EU countries have for healthcare. What she isn't covered for is repatriation, which is extremely expensive.

Greece ought to be covered by the EHIC, unless she has been taken to a private hospital.

I'm a bit about his one. If you're stupid enough to get drunk, and fall off the back of a moped without a helmet,then no great injustice has been done by the insurance company rightly failing to pay up.

I'm sure she could stay put and be treated by the Greek state system (pretty good in general) and be repatriated when more is known about her condition.

Bluestocking. It would depend on the Greek healthcare system.

France has a reciprocal agreement with the UK so without travel insurance you would get what the same treatment as a French resident. But the state only pays for approx 70 per cent of the treatment for French residents and they either have to foot the bill for the rest or have private insurance.
So a UK resident would require travel insurance to cover the difference.

tissy, I agree completely about being stupid enough to get drunk etc, but I imagine the majority of young holidaymakers are stupid enough to get that drunk - most of them will get away with it but it wouldn't hurt for this to be publicised & emphasised before they go.

agree WW, people should certainly read the small print, and not just plump for the cheapest insurance available.

Thanks, Otherside. I suppose the other thing we should bear in mind is that when British drunks have accidents in Britain, the dear old NHS foots the bill, when there are plenty of better things the money could be spent on.