Holiday Accident Advice

[PlauGE]

Hi all

Long shot but is there anyone with a legal background here that can offer any advice

Posted a few weeks back saying i was off on my jollies, well now im back with my family and my 7 year old daughter has come home with a few less teeth

Basically she went to sit in the seating area (they called it a amphitheater) like rows of football seats is the best i can explain it, the backrest of the chair had been snapped off and she'd not realised, resulted in her falling at a guesstimate around 9 feet, first thing to hit the floor was her upper set of teeth (only thing there to stop anyone falling off the end was like a hand railing, with another hand rail about a foot below running up the side, shes gone through the gap while falling)

Shes hit the concrete floor below knocking her front adult tooth, and baby tooth at the side clean out, her other front top adult tooth is lose but was told this should correct itself, she also split her lip quite bad, needing around 10 stitches, all this on her fecking 7th birthday

Morning after weve gone down obviously pissed off that its happened, and since im being hounded for the remainder of the holiday offering me a payout to not take it further, was also suprised to get a phone call today while back home from somebody apparently not connected with the hotel asking what i was after money wise

Told them from the start i wasnt interested in anything they had to offer as id rather do it properly, really not sure where to go from here as never been in a situation like this

Forgot to add the hotel admitted full resposability, but once they knew i was seeking advice back home point blank refused to put it in writing, i do have a recording of them saying this but im pretty sure thats of no use as i didnt get permission

If i forgot to add anything just say and ill answer as best as i can

Many thanks

[Geko]

Fuck. That sounds awful.

[super mike]

Fuck. That sounds awful.

Agree, can't offer any advice; but OUCH!

[PlauGE]

It was awful mate, truely broke my heart, never been so emotional

[ivrytwr3]

Claim on your holiday insurance and let them sort it?

Or if you have legal cover on your home insurance call them them and get them involved.

At the bare minumum you want private dental care bill covered by them to cover the coorective work surely?

[Hangman]

Best advice would be to go see a solicitor

[PlauGE]

All i could claim from holiday insurance was the hospital cover, no more help now were back home

Home insurance id not thought about, but cant see that getting anywhere

Ive contacted a solicitor , just waiting on a call back see if they want to take the case on

At the very least id expect the dental care paid for yes, but when ive told them its an ongoing thing and not just as simple as chucking another couple of teeth in there they look at me all dumb, been speaking with a guy who lost several teeth and the cost never stops, hes in his thirties and always having problems, needing replacements etc, which concerns me alot as dental work isnt cheap

[JonEp]

First, hope shes ok.

Second hope you took plenty of pics where this happened and of the injury. Kept any medical reports from hospital and any bills and noted names of people you interacted with.

Your claim, if you booked it in the UK should be against the holiday company, suing hotels oversea is fraught with difficulty.

You've received some great advice above but avoid the PI boiler houses you see advertised and instead walk into a local Solicitors office near to you. One benefit of this as you will later realises is that you can at any time go talk to someone in the office.

Good luck.

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[PlauGE]

It was Irwin Mitchell i was advised to go to, not sure if thats good or bad, nothing is set though so i could always go back and go to see a different solicitor

Plenty of pictures were took of the site and injuries, funnily enough the chair was replaced the morning after, and they told me they didnt know about a broken chair, once i told them i had pictures of a broken chair she changed her attitude, didnt even want to see the pictures, and replaced the broken chair, and cordened it off, fecking stinks

[ThieF]

I know I'm a stranger lurking daily, but your story sounds terrible mate.

I have no allegiance to Irwin Mitchell, as worked there for ten years and left under a cloud unfortunately.

But I can whole heartedly recommend there travel litigation team, they were revered as leaders in that particular field amongst the other large law firms, so if they are happy to take on the case, which I imagine they will, I did witness many similar cases while I was there, I would put my trust and faith in them.

Best of luck.

[Hangman]

Last year my wife and daughter both got food poisoning while on an all inclusive holiday in Turkey, as they had not eaten outside the resort it was 100% from the hotel. We engaged a solicitor and at the end we got a full refund of the holiday, all medical expenses plus £3k for my wife and £3.5k for my daughter which is held in trust by the court till she is 18.

im not saying you will get this but just giving you an idea.

[PlauGE]

Thanks everyone, there offering 5000 euro to keep us quiet, had a letter from irwin mitchel today requesting more info, photos, etc

Been the emergency dentist today and hes concerned with her lip as it looks inflamed and something is showing on the xray which could be a piece of tooth, didnt tell us to do anything about that though other then get some antibiotics just incase of infection

[JonEp]

Who has made the offer, the hotel or holiday company?

Have they put the 5k euro offer in writing including accepting liability ?

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[PlauGE]

The hotel made the offer, along with a letter accepting responsibility, but unless i accept the offer they will not write a letter accepting responsibility

Her reason for this was that if i was to go down the solicitor route 'the hotel will defend itself' whatever that means

[Hangman]

If you have a letter accepting responsibility then you have them banged to rights

[PlauGE]

I dont

[Cosmicpore]

So is it that they are willing to give you a letter accepting full responsibility but only if you accept their 5k (and presumably drop all legal stuff) and is there a time limit on what they have offered you? If so, sounds a bit dodgy.

Personally, I feel what they are offering is low considering the amount of dental treatment your wee lass will need and would advise you bite the bullet and see a solicitor. It may seem like another expense but will be worth it in the long run and they will be efficient in taking the next steps. Although the recording will be admissible as evidence i a court of law, it should still hold some weight for your case (especially coupled with pictures).

Have you recorded phone conversations with them? It would be interesting to know if the hotel had CCTV in the area.

[PlauGE]

Yea if i drop any talk of anything legal proceedings and accept there offer they will write a letter of responsibility to go with it, not been any mention of a time limit on there offer, they asked for my email details so they could contact me further which suits me as ill have it all in writing then

Not got any phone recordings, was the first time theyve phoned and caught me offgueard as i wasnt expecting to hear from them, basically there just asking me what id accept, recieved some papers today asking me for pictures, hospital notes etc

[blacksheep]

Get them to pay your legal costs to get a solicitor to run their eyes over anything you agree to (similar to a compromise agreement with work). Just makes sure that there's no little loop holes they can wriggle out of.

[RSV]

Is it just me that thinks this hotel should be made to pay more than just a few grand compo for dental care? Not being funny but your daughter falling 9feet onto concrete on her head she's lucky to get away with the injuries she's got. Could easily have been a lot worse. A few grand is nothing to them & won't really teach them to make sure their hotel is a safe place.