A mother taking children to enjoy the evening’s entertainment at their holiday hotel suffered a serious ankle injury after she fell on a poorly lit footpath leaving her needing a wheelchair and crutches for the rest of the trip.
The holiday accident claim was made following an injury suffered during a family summer break with friends at a resort in Mexico. After being treated at a local hospital her husband and child had to look after her.
“It changed everyone’s holiday really; I was restricted in what I could take part in and that affected everyone. My daughter and husband had to push me around in the wheelchair and fetch-and-carry for me for the rest of the time there. My husband even had to help me in the shower,” recalled the woman from Scunthorpe.
Walking through the hotel gardens one night she followed a path into a poorly lit area and was unable to see where it merged with another. She went over the edge into a flowerbed twisting her left ankle and tearing the nail on her right foot.
As she was unable to get up, the children in the group raised the alarm with a member of the hotel staff at the Azul Beach Resort in Playa del Carmen, Cancún in 2018.
The woman, who was 51 at the time of the accident, was examined by the hotel doctor and given an injection for pain relief and medication following the hotel accident.
She was asked to attend a local hospital the next morning where an x-ray was carried out and she left wearing a pressure boot as the ankle was severely bruised and painful.
The woman, who works in a GP surgery, had further treatment when she arrived back home.
‘I know the injury is there all the time, it swells and aches’
Over the last four years, she has continued to take anti-inflammatory medication and undergone physiotherapy and an ultrasound examination followed by an injection into her ankle. She has also been advised she may need further surgery in the future.
“When I came home from Mexico, I was unable to drive for another six to eight weeks and my husband had to drive me everywhere I needed to be; hospital appointments, work, even to do the weekly shop, pushing me around in a wheelchair.
“I know the injury is there all the time, it swells and aches and I am unable to put a lot of pressure on the ankle without it becoming very uncomfortable.
“I have been advised I could have a microfracture operation performed to alleviate my ongoing symptoms. At the moment I am just getting on with it and putting up with the pain,” she said.
The woman says she contacted several solicitors for legal advice about the holiday accident, “quite a few said they wouldn’t touch the case with it being abroad as it complicated the case and they did not think they had a strong enough chance of winning, but then I contacted Hudgells and it was plain sailing,” she recalled.
‘It’s not uncommon for holidaymakers to be injured as a result of inadequately lit hotel paths’
The woman was represented in her holiday injury claim by experienced travel litigation executive Anne Thomson who alleged the package holiday company Alfendo Ltd t/a JTA Travel (JTA) of Birmingham had breached its duty of care.
“It’s not uncommon for holidaymakers to be injured as a result of inadequately lit hotel paths.
“In this case I believed the company had failed to ensure the area was lit adequately and that it had failed to warn my client of the danger of walking along the pathway in the dark.
“No adequate efforts had been made to prevent an accident and they had failed to exercise reasonable care to ensure her safety,” said Ms Thomson.
Despite the company denying all liability a compensation settlement was agreed for the woman’s injuries.
“Anne has been brilliant; she made it so easy for me. In the four years that it has taken to reach this conclusion Anne has guided me through each stage and offered excellent advice and I trusted her implicitly,” she said.
If you’ve recognised that you or a member of your family has come to harm as a result of an injury or illness abroad because of the actions, or lack of actions, of someone else, then you have the right to make an accident on holiday claim.
The first step is to get in touch. You can begin by contacting us via our claim form and selecting Accidents & Illness Abroad.
