Injury or illness on holiday can be a truly terrifying experience and we should all do our utmost to arm ourselves with the knowledge required to alleviate the stress.  Injury in its own right is traumatic but if you throw communication barriers, foreign customs and financial concerns into the equation you and your family can suffer extreme stress.

Foremost, you need to take the right precautions before going abroad; get an EHIC card entitling you to basic free statutory health care, and find a good insurance policy that may allow you certain private provisions and greater scope for more rounded assistance.  Make sure you take the contact numbers of your insurer so that they may be able to assist you in the logistics of your treatment.

If you are truly at a loss you may wish to contact bodies like the Foreign and Commonwealth Office which can guide and assist in terms of local custom and medical practices.  In certain scenarios they may also send delegates to assist you.

Once you have found and can maintain some semblance of good health, you may wish to decide if your injury or illness was incurred due to the negligence of others.  Fortunately when we go away there are many codes of conduct and legal charters to protect us from various forms of negligence.  The Package Holidays and Package Tour Regulations Act 1992 is one such code of conduct and there are various regulatory bodies that help to regulate the industry.

It can be a daunting prospect trying to seek some form of justice if we feel afflicted by the negligence of others and this is where legal firms like Express Solicitors are there to help.  They specialise in all sorts of claims ranging from food poisoning to slips, trips and falls. They can guide you through the procedures, help you build a case, and assist you in any litigation that may be necessary.

Health and safety standards often differ from our own here in the UK but if you book through a UK tour operator you can be protected by UK law especially if the holiday is inside of Europe.  Perhaps you have been injured whilst swimming, been the victim of poor maintenance or ate unhygienic food; the important thing is that you make detailed accounts of your case to help a firm like Express Solicitors build a case on your behalf.

Take photos of bad maintenance or the scenes surrounding the place of injury, and indeed of the injuries themselves, and collect witness statements where possible.  Note down contact numbers of fellow victims if possible too – these may well help your case should you pursue one. If you haven’t been able to secure these things there’s no need to worry, you can still make a credible case without them, it would just increase the likelihood of your case being successful to have this information available.