Forced to accept minimal amount when cancelling holiday due to serious injury

hmmmwhatnow

I booked a special family holiday to Madeira through lastminute.com, due to depart on 30th March 2026. On 10th March my husband was seriously injured at work, and was going to be unable to fly. I tried to re-arrange the holiday but was only able to try and do this through a chat on the website. I requested calls so that I could discuss the matter but each holiday change date was met by a-mail response saying it was not possible. I sent an urgent email requesting the holiday was cancelled under exception circumstances following advice from the hospital staff, to which I never received a reply. After another online chat I was sent a link to submit evidence to progress the cancellation under exceptional circumstances, but the link did not work. As the holiday date approached I got more and more anxious and eventually felt I was left with no choice but to cancel the holiday directly through the website where I was offered less that £900 for my £8000+ holiday. I was e-mail instantly saying they'd reviewed the details and that was all I was entitled to. So, so far that is all I've had.

I would like advice on how to challenge lastminute.com as I don't feel the amount was justified and I'm certain that they didn't look into my exceptional circumstances at all. I have received no further communication from lastminute.com

I do have travel insurance that I have been told I can claim against, however it was not sufficient to cover the full cost of the holiday (lesson learnt to check when travel insurance renews!)

I am hoping that I have a leg to stand on with lastminute.com and can use the travel insurance to regain a smaller amount if I can at least get something more back from lastminute.com.

Any help gratefully received…especially if it's an e-mail template!!

phatbear

Im suprised Lastminute.com have offered you £900 as, assuming all of the elements of you trip were non-cancelable, they arent obliged to give you owt.

As you have stated you have insurance bit this wont cover the total cost well this is, sadly, a very expensive lesson to learn.

Isthisforreal99

This is exactly what travel insurance is for and the fact you under insured yourselves is not last minutes problem I am afraid. Count yourself lucky they refunded anything.

Grumpy_chap

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6666300/forced-to-accept-minimal-amount-when-cancelling-holiday-due-to-serious-injury

I don't think you have any case against LastMinute.

Have you claimed on your travel insurance?

Given the reason for not travelling is your husband's accident at work, is the employer paying any compensation?

Ayr_Rage

I agree with the above, an accident at work, unfortunate for you all, would never be considered an exceptional circumstance by any holiday provider or booking intermediary.

Getting a refund of £900 is actually a reasonable result in these circumstances.

This situation should be covered by your travel insurance, being underinsured is your mistake.

Hopefully the work accident is investigated and if the company are found to be at fault then your husband may get some other compensation.

MattMattMattUK

Nothing to do with Lastminute, everything to do with you not taking out adequate travel insurance. Unfortunately you are only entitled to what you can claim on your travel insurance. Remember that if Lastminute give you any money back you need to declare that to your travel insurance as failing to do that would be insurance fraud.

Westin

Weighing in only to agree with all the other replies.

This is 100% a travel insurance claim. There are no special ‘exceptions circumstances’ - your need to cancel was an insurable risk. The fact that you are underinsured is a YOU problem rather than one for Lastminute.com to deal with.

You need a cancellation invoice or proof of cancellation from LM/Suppliers to support your travel insurance claim.

Stop blaming LM and chasing them for more money. Politely request the documentation you need for the insurance, thank them for refunding what they have - and focus on the insurance.

Hope that your husband recovers quickly.

silvercar

you may find that your husband’s work has some sort of liability insurance that will cover the costs not met by your insurance.

MyRealNameToo

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81982308#Comment_81982308

They will legally be required to hold Employers Liability, which despite its name also covered contractors, volunteers and workers in addition to employees. Like car insurance its centrally recorded and the insurer can be forced to respond even if the employer is being uncooperative.

That said, EL will only respond if the employer was actually liable for the incident. That will come down to the circumstances of the incident, equipment being used, training given, what the OP was doing and why, who'd instructed them to do it etc etc etc.

It's impossible to say based on the limited information if the OP's employer is spotless and the OP is the author of their own misfortune or if there were shortfalls in anything the employer is responsible for. Obviously if they are liable then they potentially would also have a claim for PSLA (injury), any loss of earnings, the holiday and potentially other heads of claims.

Note however the EL may argue they are only liable for the injured parties losses and not the loss of holiday of anyone that was due to go with them as they are too remote to the incident. Back in my Motor days we had constant discussions where our policyholder injured someone, they got sick pay from work and we made up the short fall from their normal pay but then the employer tried to reclaim the sick pay from us but thats a hard no.

The real solution would be a claim on the travel insurance but presumably the OP had forgotten to buy any.

silvercar

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81982343#Comment_81982343

They said they had bought travel insurance, but it doesn't cover the full amount, so all is not lost.

While not disagreeing with your main points, a generous employer may well cover more than their insurance provides for, either because they are being generous or because they have an obligation if they themselves were under insured.

Pollycat

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81982268#Comment_81982268

I agree with this.

Lastminute.com don't have a great reputation but in this instance they have done nothing wrong.