Personal injury solicitors at the Paul Rooney Partnership are warning UK holidaymakers that a pending change to EU regulations could result in lower compensation levels for accidents which occur while abroad.
On January 11th 2009, a new piece of EU-wide legislation comes into force that will mean that the level of damages in personal injury compensation claims pursued in this country for accidents occurring abroad will be decided under the law of the country where the accident happened rather than under the law of this country as is the case currently.
The legislation known as the Rome II Directive could result in less compensation for many claimants as it is reasonably safe to assume that in most cases, the levels of damages in European countries are lower than they are here.
According to Steve Ireland, Partner at the Paul Rooney Partnership, if you are pursuing a claim in this country for an accident which occurred abroad, you need to find out if you will better off under the Rome II directive and if not you will need to issue court proceedings before 11th January 2009 to ensure that your damages are calculated under English law.
However, if your claim is against a UK based tour operator then the Rome II Directive will not apply as both you and the tour operator are based in this country.
In order to make sure that you have the right to pursue your tour operator under UK law, you need to book all aspects of your holiday in the UK prior to departure.
He explained: “Since the end of 1992, if you are injured while on a package holiday you have the right to pursue a compensation claim against the tour operator who sold you the holiday as long as your accident is the result of something that goes wrong with any service or facilities provided under the contract made when you booked the holiday.
“For example the tour operator would be responsible if the hotel failed to take reasonable care for your safety.
“However, excursions which are usually booked and paid for in the resort and are subject to a different contract don’t have that protection and should any injuries be suffered. Holiday makers could be left with no choice other than to pursue a claim in a foreign country against a foreign defendant with all the associated issues that would bring.
“Unless tour operators are prepared to alter their current practice and accept responsibility for claims arising from excursions, holiday makers should book any summer holiday excursions at the same time as booking their holiday in order to maximise their protection.
“We deal with many hundreds of overseas claims every year and these are complicated enough given the international aspect of holiday travel. We’d therefore suggest it would be a sensible precaution to book excursions with a UK based supplier wherever possible.”
For more information visit http://www.paulrooney.co.uk/
