Injured in turkey

V3nn0

I am sorry for the delay in responding. 

Whilst on my honeymoon. I hit my head on an exposed bracket which was holding an air conditioning unit. 

The unit was underneath a radio shack whilst free to walk under it was partially obscured from my sight. I was looking down whilst stepping over a sunbed and under an archway. Upon raising my head I cane into contact with the exposed metal bracket cutting my head (actually more like a deep scrape)  leaving my scalp attached to the bracket. There were no warning signs present to warn of the danger of this bracket. Subsequently 3 days after reporting the accident to the reception some makeshift padding similar to insulation foam was taped around the exposed brackets. There were still no warning signs present however. There was no alcohol involved in the incident it occurred at approximately 11.15am. 

I did not visit the doctors there. I had taken paracetamol and ibuprofen along and felt there was no need to invoke an excess on my medical travel insurance for something I already had in my possession. Subsequently with an open wound on my head I was unable to enjoy the rest of the honeymoon With my wife and 4yo son.

V3nn0

I do believe the hotel was negligent and therefore the tour operator should be held responsible for ensuring my safety and well being once we entered into a contract. 

NoodleDoodleMan

Sorry to hear of your accident. Injury or illness always puts a damper on a holiday.

Your case is not helped by failure to seek professional medical attention.

That's one of the fundemental questions the hotel and/or tour operator will ask.

Did you report it to the tour operator rep - and do you have a documented copy of this and their reponse ?

The obvious inference being that you felt the injury was not serious enough to do so.

How would you reply to that ?

Also, do you have photos of the offending bracket and surrounding area, as well as the wound.

I'm playing the Devil's Advocate here.

Ayr_Rage

Not getting treatment for an open wound on your head is quite frankly the height of stupidity, you may not like hearing that but as you have posted on a public forum asking for advice any replies with personal opinions are valid.

You walked into a fixed object so there is an element of you needing to take care in your surroundings.

As you did not make an insurance claim and the solicitors have closed the case I think it's time to move on and put this behind you.

NoodleDoodleMan

They would also ask why you were stepping over a sunbed.

Bicycleman22

No proof, no claim.

bagand96

V3nn0 said:

I did not visit the doctors there. I had taken paracetamol and ibuprofen along and felt there was no need to invoke an excess on my medical travel insurance for something I already had in my possession. Subsequently with an open wound on my head I was unable to enjoy the rest of the honeymoon With my wife and 4yo son.

An open wound on your head that was serious enough to ruin the holiday, but you didn't seek professional medical advice? And now you want to claim compensation from the Tour Operator without any report?

Why did the solicitors close the case? 

V3nn0

I reported the accident straight away to the reps at reception. I got a copy of telhe incident report. I have photo evidence of the bracket before and after and photo evidence of the injury. 

The solicitor contacted the tour operator who acknowledged the initial correspondence. According to the solicitor they then had 6 months to look into the incident and respond. After this period had ended the solicitor tried to contact the tour operator for an update on 3 different occasions. The tour operator failed to respond so the solicitor subsequently closed the case. I then contacted the tour operators legal claims department myself and they said they would take initially 14 days to respond. I waited just over this period to contact them again. Same response please wait 14 days for a response. Eventually they acknowledged my accident without admitting liability. They said it would take 6 weeks to look into setting up my claim etc. The 6 week period lapsed and yet again I had to contact them for an update. Their last response to the matter was any updates would be given to my appointed solicitors!!! So basically I have all of the evidence but by playing ignorant they are hoping to reach the time lapse Come on whereby I will be unable to proceed with a claim.

Ayr_Rage

What exactly are you claiming?

Your only expenses are a couple of packets of over the counter pain medicine.

It seems that you stepped over a sunbed and bashed your napper against an immovable object, I honestly don't see any negligence on the part of the tour operator.

bagand96

It seems odd that the solicitor just closed the case after receiving no response? That's not normally how you might expect legal claims to work, at that point the solicitor would look to next steps such as notifying of an intention to start court action.

Was it free legal advice on an insurance policy that only goes so far? Or NWNF advice? Did the solicitors think you had a valid claim or were they just going through the motions?