Holiday Claims: Tell Your Tour Operator About Accidents And Act Promptly

If you have been injured during a package holiday, it is important to tell your tour or travel operator about the accident – and ask them to notify its insurer – following an important ruling. The personal injury lawyers at award-winning firm ParrisWhittaker in the Turks and Caicos Islands (TCI) and across the region have years of experience successfully representing injured holiday.

A ruling¹ of the UK’s Court of Appeal has found in favour of a law firm and concluded that lawyers’ duty of care to injury clients does not extend to advising them to inform operators of the accident. The ruling has important persuasive authority on the TCI courts.

What happened?

The substantive claim was, in fact, a claim by a holiday maker (M) for compensation for professional negligence against her former solicitors (IM). It followed an accident that happened in Turkey in 2014, in which M slipped and fell down the hotel stairs badly breaking her leg.  She underwent emergency surgery and the leg was eventually amputated.

The travel operator had contractually accepted legal responsibility to M and her husband for injuries sustained on the holiday.

M instructed IM to act in her injury claim against the operator. In her initial conversation with the IM claims helpline, she received generic advice and was not told to immediately notify the operator of the accident. However, by the time M gave IM the appropriate documents and a letter of claim was served on the operator, nearly two years had passed.

The operator’s insurer declined cover for the claim on the basis that the operator had not complied with the notification provisions in the policy. The operator then went into administration, leaving M with little or no prospect of recovering any injury compensation.

M therefore brought her professional negligence claim, arguing that IM should have advised on matters “reasonably incidental” to the retainer – which included notifying the tour operator.

What did the judges say?

The CA disagreed with M: notifying a tour operator of the accident was not “reasonably incidental” to advice given about the limitation period in which a claim should be brought.

Furthermore, when informing M about the three-year period in which a compensation claim must be issued, the solicitor had not assumed responsibility to give further advice around safeguarding against the risk that the operator already knew about the accident – but would not promptly notify its insurer.

What does this mean?

Claimants are reminded that limitation periods are vitally important, particularly in personal injury claims where the earlier a claim is made – the fresher and more reliable the evidence will be.

They should also make sure their lawyer has as much information as possible, as early was possible, so that a robust case can be built and a claim issued promptly.

How can we help?

For expert representation and advise on bring your holiday injury claim, contact the experienced personal injury litigation solicitors at ParrisWhittaker in TCI as early as possible. You can contact us at +1.242.352.6112

¹Miller v Irwin Mitchell [2024] EWCA Civ 53