Holiday Accidents: A Crimp in Your Holiday

It can put a crimp into your holiday - an accident that damages either you or your family in some way. Such an accident could be costly and result in the necessity to gain some financial recompense. If you are in strange lands at the time, perhaps where your linguistic skills are wanting, things can appear quite bleak.

So how is it possible to obtain some level of compensation? Well, in order to get compensation for damage caused through an accident it will be necessary to claim for it.

Personal injury is of particular concern. There are as many ways of getting injured as there are body parts. A common and much addressed form of loss is that following a road accident. This is especially so, since most countries insist that we drive on the right! For European travel, the situation is somewhat better than it was six years ago.

In order to make personal injury claims following a road traffic accident easier to deal with, the EU introduced the 4th EU Motor Directive. This legislation came into force in 2003 and covers all EU countries.

It states that all cars insured in EU countries must be registered on a database. Which means that if the injured person has managed to note the registration number plate of the car involved in the accident, the of the insurance company it should be possible to find their details.

The Directive also states that the insurer of the other drive must designate a representative in the home country (UK) of the injured party (you). This will relieve the burden of having to deal with a foreign legal system.

The important conclusion is that your holiday accident claim can be dealt with in the UK by the solicitor of your choice. This is easier than finding a foreign solicitor with the appropriate language skills willing to communicate with you back in the UK.

What if the car was not insured or the insurance company cannot be found or has ceased to exist? According to the Directive, someone must do something. In the UK that role is taken by the Motor Insurers Bureau (MIB). It is part of the remit of the MIB to handles claims for untraceable drivers and untraceable insurance companies