You can usually make a holiday accident claim if someone else failed to take reasonable care and you were injured or became ill as a result. That might be a tour operator, hotel, excursion company or driver, on a holiday abroad or in the UK. What matters is that the accident was someone else’s fault.
Where you claim, and who you claim against, depends mainly on how you booked your holiday.
Package holidays
A package holiday is usually two or more travel services sold together, such as flights and accommodation, booked through one company. Under the Package Travel and Linked Travel Arrangements Regulations 2018, usually called the Package Travel Regulations, the package organiser is responsible for the services it sells you.
That includes services delivered by a local provider abroad, such as the hotel, transfer company or an excursion booked through the package. So package holiday claims are usually made against a UK tour operator, not the foreign business where the accident occurred. That makes them far simpler to pursue from Scotland.
Independently booked holidays
If you booked your flights, hotel or activities separately, you usually claim against the business at fault, or its insurer. These accident abroad claims are more complex, because the business may be based outside the UK and local law may apply.
They’re still worth asking about. Our accident abroad solicitors can tell you which route is open to you.
Holidays or excursions paid for by credit card
If you paid for part of your trip by credit card, you may have another option. Under section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974, the card provider can share responsibility with the business, where a single item cost more than £100 and no more than £30,000. This gives you a UK-based route for a hotel or excursion you booked independently.
Accidents on holiday in the UK
Not every holiday involves a passport. If you were injured whilst on a holiday in the UK, at a holiday park, cottage, hotel or attraction, your claim works like any other personal injury claim. If the accident happened in Scotland, the Scottish courts deal with it under Scots law.
