Package holiday claim success

£20,000 compensation for our client who fell in her hotel in Spain and sustained injuries

We are delighted to share another recent success for a lovely client – on this occasion regarding a package holiday in Spain.

The Claimant and her husband (an elderly couple) were in the course of a package holiday in Benidorm, Spain at the time of the accident. They had booked their holiday by telephone and the holiday was inclusive of international flights and accommodation within the meaning of Regulation 2 of the Package Travel Package Holidays and Package Tour Regulations 1992 (Regulations).

The accident occurred on the stairs of the Spanish hotel where the Claimant and her husband where staying. They had been given room in an annexe near the swimming pool and the layout of the hotel was such that the route to the main hotel and reception facilities, required descent down some steep metal steps. Aware of the potential danger, the Claimant requested a change of room to the hotel which was subsequently refused.

The stairs had a handrail for part of the course of the stairs, but the handrail finished abruptly before the bottom step and the area was also dimly lit in the evening with very limited visibility.  The accident occurred at around 19.00 hours whilst the Claimant was leaving her room with her husband to go out for dinner.

The Claimant was slowly descending the stairs in the darkness and as she approached the final two steps, she lost her footing due to the absence of light and lack of a handrail, falling heavily to the ground and sustaining various injuries including a soft tissue injury to her right knee and a complicated fracture to her left wrist which left her with permanent symptoms.

Liability for the Claimant’s accident was denied by the Defendant, and they insisted on their denial even following service of a local standards report prepared by a Spanish Civil Engineer confirming the Spanish hotel’s breach of local standards and regulations (particularly in relation to the short handrail and the lighting at the accident location).

In view of the Defendant’s denial of liability, we proceeded to issue court proceedings on behalf of the Claimant and eventually the claim settled for £20,500 just a few days before the matter was listed for a case management conference hearing at a court in London.

Needless to say that the Claimant was thrilled with the result and she stated:

“Dear Yasmina I am very pleased with the result. Thank you for all your hard work and advice”