Holidaymaker injured in crash urges caution when booking excursions

Clinton Gayle was holidaying in Playa de las Americas when he and his cousin went on an excursion to Mount Teide, having been approached by ticket sellers while out in the resort.

Having decided to go on the adventure outing, which included offroad 4x4 driving, Clinton says they quickly realised there were problems with the trip when the gearbox on their vehicle was not working properly – something he calls a “death trap”.

On the way back to their hotel, the minibus they were travelling in ploughed into a stationary car. Both Clinton, 44, and his cousin were injured, but he says that no medical care was offered or even any concern shown to them by the operator.

The collision, which was on the second day of their week-long holiday in August 2021, meant the rest of their break was not spent as they had hoped. It was only when Clinton got back to the UK and sought medical attention he was given proper treatment for injuries to his back, arms, right wrist and right ankle. He also suffered from disturbed sleep and headaches after the collision.

“When you’re on holiday, you see these excursions being offered and you just book them, everyone does it – but actually, when you think about it, what happens when something goes wrong and you get injured? Are they going to look after you?,” says Clinton, from Bilston, in the West Midlands.

“We knew when we were in the 4x4s that they weren’t safe, only three of the gears were working in them, we could have been killed. But after the minibus crash, which was such a massive shock, they weren’t bothered. I think if we’d have booked with a reputable company, there would have been some support in place afterwards.

“We knew we were injured but tried to get on with our holiday as best we could afterwards. We didn’t go on any more excursions, which was disappointing because we wanted to see as much as we could, and we couldn’t do much to be honest. It was sad that no one helped us in any way.”

Research from Slater and Gordon reveals that a third of holidaymakers (33 per cent) worry about being injured on holiday while taking part in activities. A further 22 per cent say they have seen practices whilst on holiday that are dangerous and bound to cause injury.

For anyone visiting tourist resorts this summer on holiday, who may be inclined to book excursions on the beach or seafront, Clinton urges caution.

“I think if you book with a company which has credentials and takes a professional approach, you will probably have a much better time of it if things do go wrong,” he says.

“Because of what happened, we couldn’t have the holiday we wanted, and were just left there in pain having been in a crash. We hoped for a bit of concern at the very least, but there was nothing.”

Clinton turned to travel specialists at Slater and Gordon for support in securing a settlement from the insurer of the driver of their vehicle.

“This was a very unfortunate incident for Clinton to be involved in, and meant his holiday was far from what he hoped. The lack of any medical attention meant he was not able to receive treatment for his injuries for more than a week until he returned to the UK,” says Nicholas Lukacs, who acted for Clinton.

“Thankfully on this occasion the driver had appropriate insurance in place, and we were able to secure a settlement from them on Clinton’s behalf, although Clinton is right to warn of the possible dangers of booking activities on holiday with operators you know nothing about. As specialist travel lawyers, we see the perils of this all too often, so would urge holidaymakers to be vigilant this summer.”