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Holiday Accident Claims In Jamaica – How Much Compensation Can I Claim For A Personal Injury

On this page, is a guide to the legal process of making holiday accident claims in Jamaica. Understanding how your legal firm will process an injury claim will be useful to you, so that you can make informed decisions about the way your case is handled. If you were injured in some form of an accident while you are overseas in Jamaica, this guide is for you.

However, should you prefer to have the process of making a claim explained to you, rather than reading about it, you can call Legal Expert on 0800 073 8804. When you do, one of our team will explain how our No Win No Fee claims service works, using plain and simple English with no legal jargon.

Select a Section:

A Guide To Jamaica Holiday Accident Claims

Jamaica holiday accident claims

Jamaica holiday accident claims

If you were involved in some kind of accident while you were on holiday in Jamaica, a personal injury solicitor might be able to process a compensation claim for you. This guide will explain many of the reasons a valid reason to make a claim may exist, as well as some of the legal considerations when making a claim. It contains information, such as:

  • A list of logical steps to take, that will make sure that when you make a holiday accident claim, you have the best chance of winning a settlement.
  • A list of all the emergency service contact numbers in Jamaica, as well as information on how best to get the help you need in an emergency.
  • Details of the healthcare situation for British citizens on holiday in Jamaica, and how to get emergency treatment if you are involved in an accident.
  • A table that shows all of the time limits that are in place in Jamaica, in regard to how long a claimant has to start their compensation claim following an accident.
  • An explanation of the different legal process of claiming for a Jamaican holiday that was booked in the UK, through a package tour operator.
  • Information about hotel accidents, how they can happen, and the process of claiming compensation for injuries that were caused by one.
  • Information covering food poisoning and other illnesses that can be contracted by eating bad food, or drinking unclean water while on holiday in Jamaica.
  • Details of how slip, trips and falls are very common accidents that can happen while on holiday, and how to claim for injuries caused by them.
  • Information regarding excursions and adventure activities in Jamaica, how to stay safe and what to do should you be injured in an accident.
  • An overview of the state of road safety in Jamaica, and how to go about claiming compensation if you are injured in a road traffic accident while on holiday.
  • An introduction to the national claims service that Legal Expert offers to all residents of the UK, no matter where they are located. A simple, effective and risk-free way to have your holiday claim processed.

No matter how you were injured on your holiday in Jamaica, Legal Expert should be able to help you, by processing an injury claim on your behalf. You can call us on the number at the bottom of this guide to find out how we can assist you.

I Had An Accident On Holiday In Jamaica, What Should I Do Now?

If you intend to make a holiday accident claim for injuries you sustained in an accident while holidaying in Jamaica, there are some steps you can take to ensure the success of your claim. Most of these steps are pure common sense. However, in an emergency situation, they may not be at the forefront of your thoughts. Many of these steps need to be undertaken while you are still on Jamaican soil. Others need to be carried out after you have flown home.

Things To Do While You Are Still In Jamaica

  • If your Jamaican holiday was booked through UK travel firm as a package holiday, you need to contact them and tell them you have been involved in an accident. Most large UK travel vendors will have local representatives in Jamaica who can handle this for you.
  • Make sure that your injuries are treated properly, and visit a hospital to have them taken care of, no matter how minor you believe them to be.
  • If you need to claim for the cost of medical treatment on your travel or health insurance, you should contact your insurance firm and warn them of the fact.
  • If there were any witnesses to your accident, ask them to provide you with their name and contact details. Your solicitor in the UK might need to contact them in the future.
  • For serious accidents, such as a car crash in Jamaica, you should make sure that the local police are aware the accident took place. You might need to contact them yourself to report it, if they didn’t come to the scene of the accident when it happened.
  • Use your smartphone to take photographs or video of that hazard that caused your accident. For example, if you tripped on a warped wooden floor, photograph it.

Things To Do When You Get Back To The UK

  • Document your injuries, as well as how the accident that caused them happened. So that you will have the facts straight, and remember how the situation occurred, when you contact a solicitor to process your claim.
  • Make a list of all of the losses that your injuries caused. This could be financial losses, such as having to pay for medical treatment. It could also be intangible losses, such as missing out on enjoying your holiday.
  • Visit your GP or the A&E Department at your local hospital, to have your injuries checked out, and to make sure they have been treated properly.
  • Contact your insurance firm to tell them there will be no more overseas expenses for them to pay, if you used your medical or travel insurance to pay for medical attention in Jamaica.
  • Contact Legal Expert on the number at the end of this page, so we can start your holiday accident claim for you.

Many of the steps above, perform two roles. Firstly, they ensure that you are cared for properly after your accident. Secondly, they leave a paper trail, a record of your injuries, and how they were caused. This can be vital in proving that you have a valid reason to claim when you get home.

We have published a couple of general guides to claiming for accidents abroad, that you may also find useful, and these are:

A guide to claiming for package holiday accidents

A guide to claiming for accidents on self-booked trips

How To Contact The Emergency Services In Jamaica

Part of the answer to the question, I have suffered an injury abroad what to do? Is that you need to contact the emergency services, to get help after you have been injured in an accident. Jamaica has a rather complex series of some 20 or more different emergency numbers. However, in practice, visitors to Jamaica only need to remember a small subset of these, which would include:

  • 110 – to contact the fire service.
  • 116 – for hurricane updates.
  • 119 – for the police.
  • 967-8031 – for the Kingston coast
  • 973-3256 – for the Discovery Bay coast guard.
  • 110 – for an ambulance.
  • 110 – for air-seas rescue.

It may be worth making a note of these numbers and keeping them with you, as there are so many different ones.

Medical Treatment For Accidents And Sickness In Jamaica

British citizens who are travelling to Jamaica, need to know that there is no reciprocal healthcare agreement between Jamaica and the UK. This means no free emergency healthcare. You also need to consider that the quality of health care can vary between clinics/hospitals.

Therefore, it is vital that you have adequate health or travel insurance in place to ensure that you can afford to be treated at the best facilities. If you cannot demonstrate that you can pay for your medical treatment, you may be turned away. If you do need to pay your medical fees out of your own pocket, this is one of the financial losses that Legal Expert would help you to claim for.

Personal Injury Claim Time Limits In Jamaica

If you need to make an accident on holiday compensation claim for injuries you suffered in Jamaica, you need to understand that there is a time limit that your solicitor will need to make a claim within. These limits are detailed in the table below:

Edit
Claim Type Time Limit
Personal injury 3-years from the accident.
Personal injury on a cruise ship 2-years from the accident.

If you are reaching your claim time limit, call Legal Expert right now, explain the situation, and we can help to get your claim started right away.

Jamaican Package Holiday Injury Or Accident Claims

Claiming for an accident on a package holiday to Jamaica, is slightly different than making a claim if you booked your transport and accommodation yourself. This is because, on a package holiday, you will claim against the UK travel company that sold you the holiday. If you booked directly with the airline and hotel yourself, you would claim against them instead.

Back in the 80s, budget package holidays were notoriously risky to book. There were no minimum standards enforced, meaning that often, people arrived to find their hotel in a state of disrepair, or not even fully constructed yet. Flights were often overbooked, leaving people stranded at the airport, sometimes missing days of their holiday. However, things changed in 1992, when this legislation came into force in the UK:

Package Travel, Package Holidays and Package Tours Regulations 1992

The regulations introduced in this set of legislative guidelines, require package holiday vendors to provide a very specific minimum level of service. This includes health and safety considerations.

Therefore, if you were to be injured in an accident during any part of your package holiday the travel vendor is responsible for, you would likely to be able to make a claim against them. Examples of this being:

  • If you are injured in transit from your home country to the destination of your holiday, while travelling on transport that is part of the package holiday.
  • If you are injured on local transport, such as an airport shuttle service that was provided by your travel vendor.
  • If you are injured while staying in a hotel or other type of accommodation that forms part of the package holiday.
  • If you are injured while on excursions, or enjoying activities that were included in the price of your package holiday.
  • For illnesses that are contracted in restaurants, or other eateries, the cost of which was included in your package holiday. For example, if you get food poisoning after enjoying the hotel breakfast buffet.

Package holiday companies that service Jamaica includes:

  • First Choice
  • Virgin Holidays
  • TUI
  • British Airways
  • Thomas Cook

In effect, the UK tour operator is required, by law, to ensure your health and safety at all times, whenever you are doing anything that was included in the price of your holiday. If you are unsure whether you can claim against your package tour operator, call Legal Expert on the number at the bottom of this page, and we can advise you.

Holiday Sickness Or Accident Claims Conducted By Legal Expert

Legal Accident can act as your holiday accident solicitor, by processing a wide range of different types of injury claims. No matter how you were injured, if the accident can be proven to be the fault of a third party, then a valid reason to make a claim should exist.

There are certain types of claims we make much more frequently than others, so each of these has been given their own section below. If your own accident is not covered in any of these sections, we can still assist you. Call Legal Expert on the number at the end of the page, and we will give you some advice on what you need to do next.

Hotel Accident Claims In Jamaica

It should be possible to make holiday accident claims, if you are injured in your hotel while on holiday in Jamaica. There are some common accident risks in hotels, especially those that are understaffed, badly managed, or improperly maintained. These can include:

  • Faulty pool or gym equipment causing an injury to a guest that is using it.
  • No qualified supervision in the hotel gym, or no lifeguard on duty at the hotel pool.
  • Food and liquid spillages in the hotel restaurant or dining room.
  • Food going bad while sitting on the buffet table.
  • Damaged floor coverings such as frayed carpets, or cracked floor tiles.
  • Faulty electrical fittings such as light switches, lamps and plug sockets.
  • Damaged room furniture and fittings, such as a broken mirror or a faulty chair.

These reasons and more are frequently the basis of a compensation claim for a holiday accident. Legal Expert should be able to help you claim for any kind of accident in your hotel in Jamaica. Call us on the number at the end of the page to find out how.

Claims For Food Poisoning On Holiday In Jamaica

Food poisoning and other food or waterborne illnesses are always a risk when travelling overseas. The foreign strains of common bacteria and viruses are something that the average UK holidaymaker has no immunity to. If you suffer from food poisoning or a related illness while on holiday, it could be the basis of a personal injury claim. Legal Expert can help you with this. Call us on the number at the end of the page to find out how.

The Symptoms of Food Poisoning

  • Vomiting
  • Nausea
  • Stomach cramps and pain
  • Chills
  • Fever
  • Muscle and joint pain
  • A headache

How Food Can Go Bad

  • Being undercooked
  • Being stored at the wrong temperature
  • Being prepared in an unhygienic kitchen
  • Being served by unhygienic staff
  • Being left on a buffet table for too long
  • Being reheated
  • Being washed in water that is not fit for drinking

Claim For Injuries Which Can Be Caused By Slips Or Falls On Holiday In Jamaica

Slips, trips and falls are a very common type of accident that Legal Expert processes a claim for on behalf of our clients. These are the most frequent of all accidents suffered by holidaymakers from the UK when travelling abroad. They can be caused in many ways, such as:

  • Tripping – on a warped floorboard in a hotel room, or on a carpet that has been torn.
  • Slipping – on water, food or other substances in the hotel dining room or restaurant.
  • Falling – down stars that do not have sufficient lighting, or that have a missing or faulty handrail.

No matter how your slip, trip or fall accident happens, if it was the fault of a third party, Legal Expert should be able to help you claim. Call us on the number at the end of this guide to find out how.

Injury Or Sickness Caused By An Activity In Jamaica

Jamaica is one of the top destinations in the world for fans of water sports. Over one and a half million people visit Jamaica each year, and many of these partake in some form of water sports while on the island. Scuba diving and snorkelling being two of the most popular, due to the excellent diving in the region.

If you have been injured in a Jamaica water sports accident, then Legal Expert can help you to claim compensation. Call us on the number at the end of the page so we can get started on your claim.

Road Traffic Accidents And Car Crash Claims In Jamaica

Jamaica accident statistics

Jamaica accident statistics

The graph above shows the number of male and females injured in a road traffic accident in Jamaica each year. As you can see, there are fairly few casualties on Jamaica’s roads; it is a pretty safe place to drive on holiday. However, accidents can and do happen. If you are involved in a road traffic accident, Legal Expert is able to act as you solicitor to process, car crash claims in Jamaica. Call us on the number at the bottom of this page so we can help you further.

Do I Need To Use A Solicitor In Jamaica To Make A Claim?

You do not need to use a solicitor in Jamaica to make a personal injury claim. Doing so would be awkward, difficult and expensive. A much better option is to use a UK solicitor such as Legal Expert, that is able to take your claim on under a Conditional Fee Agreement (CFA). The sections below outline our claims service, which can help you to make claims for accidents while on holiday in Jamaica.

No Win No Fee Jamaican Holiday Sickness Or Accident Claim Solicitors

Here at Legal Expert, we can process your holiday accident claim under a No Win No Fee agreement. What this means, is that we would become your No Win No Fee solicitor, and process your Jamaican holiday claim on your behalf. There is no charge to start a claim, no charge while we process your claim, and no charge if we lose your claim. If we win your claim, we take our fee directly from the payment we receive, and pass the rest of the compensation over to you.

The Largest Tourist Towns And Cities In Jamaica Are Listed Below

  • Kingston
  • Montego Bay
  • Towns
  • Above Rocks
  • Albert Town
  • Alexandria
  • Alligator Pond
  • Anchovy
  • Annotto Bay
  • Balaclava
  • Bamboo
  • Bath
  • Bethel Town
  • Black River
  • Bluefields
  • Bog Walk

How To Contact Legal Expert

Legal Expert offers free accident abroad claims advice for UK citizens. We can help you to claim for physical pain and suffering, holiday claims loss of enjoyment, etc. Call us today on 0800 073 8804 so that one of our team can talk you through our new claims process, and we can get started on your claim as soon as possible.

Useful Links

British High Commission, Jamaica

28 Trafalgar Rd

Kingston

Jamaica

Tel: +1 876-936-0700

Web: www.gov.uk/world/organisations/british-high-commission-jamaica

Opening hours: Monday to Friday 8am to 5pm

The UK Government has published travel information for Jamaica, here:

UK Government Jamaica travel info

At the link below, you will find a guide to claiming compensation for whiplash:

A guide to claiming for whiplash

At the link below, you will find a guide to claiming compensation for a swimming pool accident:

A guide to claiming for a swimming pool accident