Holiday Legal advice

Recently posted comments

• I haven’t been to an Arab country before and understand that Dubi is very strict about things like kissing in public -- is there anything I need to be aware of? I am going with my boyfriend later this year.
  Question posted 04/06/09
  • When travelling aboard you need to be aware of local customs and sensibilities. This is particularly so on travelling in countries which do not have an obviously western culture. Before travelling buy or look through a good guide book. Another source of useful information is the foreign office web site www.fco.gov.uk. There have been some high profile cases of Britons’ falling afoul of local laws when fraternizing in public so this is an issue which you need to look into.
• I have only got 3 months left of my passport am I ok to travel or should I apply for a new one?
  Question posted 04/06/09
  • In a word, yes. Some countries require a passport to have 6 months or even 12 months left on it. This even includes some EU counties. Belgium requires 6 months to be left on the passport before expiration. Some countries have further visa requirements and a passport alone is not enough, for example, the USA. Best cause of action is to check the foreign office web site at www.fco.gov.uk and look at the helpful section entitled travelling and living abroad.
• I’m travelling to India in August this year, and I hear a lot of people suffer from the ‘Delhi Belly.’ If I need to visit a doctor in India, what insurance policy would you recommend to ensure I am covered for the costs?
  Question posted 08/04/09
  • There are many and varied travel insurance policies out there. There will be one which covers this eventuality. You need to research the policies. Many will have an excess for any medical treatment, are you prepared to pay this and if so how much? Do they cover India? Having identified a policy it would be worth calling the company to double check that "Delhi Belly" is covered.
• My son who is seventeen booked a return flight and travelled by himself with a tour operator. The out bound flight was fine but when he checked in two hours prior for his departure flight, he was told he could not fly on that flight as he did not confirm his return. What legal advice do you have for him?
  Question posted 08/04/09
  • If this was a package holiday, through a tour operator then I would have expected arrangements in respect of the return flight to have been sorted out by the tour operator and your son should look to the tour operator for compensation. However, I suspect that what has actually happened here is that your son has booked a scheduled or budget airline flight himself or via a travel agent. The situation is then different. If it was a term of the contract of the booking that he should confirm his return - and it often is - then he is at fault and is at the mercy of the goodwill (or not) of the airline. His position in this regards all depends on the small print of the booking conditions. People should always read this.
• I have recently purchased a Holiday (flights and villa rental) from a reputable company using its website. It was a very competitive price and quite a bargain. I have paid in full with a credit card and received a confirmation of the itinerary by email showing all of the details booked and all of the monies due paid. Looking back at the website now I am sure that the price I have paid is too low.
  Question posted 02/03/09
  • Can the company cancel this holiday or expect me to pay the website price now stated? If the website displayed the wrong price or calculated it incorrectly surely this is an error on their part and my Holiday price is safe? My confirmation email is as I booked it at the time and contains all of the components that I purchased.
    Much will depend on the terms and conditions of the holiday company. If there is no clause reserving the right to cancel at short notice and or change terms of the contract agreed the company is probably stuck with the price you have paid.
• It's funny how most of your questions are posted on either the 6th or 13th of February which has me thinking that Holiday Extras themselves have posted these questions, not valid customers. Is this true?
  Question posted 24/02/09
  • Thank you for your interest in our expert panel pages. Our expert panel questions are posted by our customers. As you will have read in the small print, not all comments or questions posted are appropriate for publication. We collate the suitable questions and send them to our experts every two weeks. The answers are then sent back to us and we upload them onto our system. Hence the batch of approved questions being loaded at the same time. We're glad that you have taken the time to read these pages and hope that you have found this response helpful.
• I was driving in Italy and was involved in a road traffic accident with another driver.  I have his details and his insurance details as my son received some fairly serious injuries. Will I have to go to Italy to make my case and claim compensation?
  Question posted 06/02/09
  • For sometime now it has been possible to deal with a road traffic accident sustained in another EU country in the UK. This is because foreign EU insurance companies should have an agent appointed in the UK through whom you can deal with. However, in a potentially large claim such as this one is likely to have to issue Court Proceedings. As the accident occurred in Italy and assuming the other driver was Italian one might be expected to think that the proceedings would have to be issued in Italy. However, in theory it is possible to issue the proceedings in the UK in some limited circumstances and for accidents from the beginning of 2009 new procedures introduced by the EU allow court proceedings to be issued in a court in the country where the claimant is based. In those circumstances the law to be applied may still be that of the county where the accident happened although the situation is not exactly clear. This is a developing area of EU law. The best advice is to seek help and assistance from a solicitor who specialises in foreign accidents as this is a highly specialised and developing area of law.

Read Michael's tips on buying travel insurance

Michael has lectured and written on specialist aspects of Personal Injury law such as travel law and sports injuries; is secretary of APIL Wales; a is member of the Law Society Personal Injury panel, ATLA, PEOPIL and the Travel and Tourism Lawyers Association.