Report comment

Please fill in the form to report an unsuitable comment. Please state which comment is of concern and why. It will be sent to our moderator for review.

Comment

What's with all the BS; lets say it how it actually is. We have unparalleled access to justice in this country.

Traditionally solicitors who operated in the RTA/PI markets avoided foreign sickness claims as they were considered too difficult to litigate and because the general public was not sophisticated enough or aware enough of its rights to

With the advent of fixed costs in their traditional sectors, solicitors evolved and realised that, these claims were actually less difficult to bring than previously thought, and more cost effective given that they were not subject to fixed costs.

Cue a substantial marketing drive and thousands of claimants who for years have suffered from often terrible cleanliness in foreign holidays where tour operators pay a pittance to hotels in order to compete in a low value market, and you have you have an almost instant Claimant demand (with claims from as far back as three years ago, from that rotten hotel in Zante/Magaluf/Benidorm etc.).

I don't doubt that there are many Claimants pulling a fast one and these are being facilitated by an unscrupulous few CMCs/Solicitors but to tarnish tens of thousands of people with that brush is no worse than doing the same with RTA Claimants.

These people have genuine claims and are now able to get assistance from solicitors who previously didn't want to know, but are now willing to service the demand. ABTA and ABI are up in arms about it as for years they have had it easy with Claimants not being able to find a solicitor willing to touch these claims - now they are realising that standards will have to go up at these hotels and either the margins will need to be squeezed or the number of travelers will fall off if they put prices up.

It's exactly the same as the RTA conundrum; you are not paying £45 a year for someone else's claim; you are paying that money to create an incentive for people to driver more safely or face the consequences. Similarly, if holiday prices go up it will not be to pay someone else's 'dodgy' sickness claim, but to improve standards at hotels that for years have been able to get away with appalling hygiene standards.

For those who disagree I defy you not to try and recall your all-inclusive experiences and think about that one iffy looking salad that has been sat limp for what looks like hours, or the dried horrible looking fish/chicken that you wouldn't feed your cat....the hotel operators and the tour companies are the real criminals in this piece.

Your details

Cancel