By Joanne Jeffries. Last Updated September 23rd 2021. Welcome to this Alicante airport accident claims guide.
Alicante–Elche Airport Accident Claims
Alicante airport accident claims guide
The last thing any holidaymaker wants is to have their journey disrupted, or even holiday ended, by having an accident at the airport. Matters are compounded when the whole thing could have been avoided if not for the negligence of the airport. If you have found yourself in a situation like this at Alicante–Elche Airport, then you should know that you may be entitled to compensation.
You may be worried about the prospect of making Alicante airport accident claims for an accident at Alicante Airport with it being in Spain. Worry not. As you’ll see below, making a personal injury claim for something that happened at Alicante-Elche Airport would not differ much from an accident that happened at Manchester Airport, for instance.
The most important thing for you to do is to find a quality personal injury claims solicitor and to speak to a legal advisor. After you have read this guide, why not call us on 0800 073 8801 to speak to our experienced accident claims team about what happened to you at Alicante-Elche Airport. They’ll put you in touch with one of our specialist solicitors, authorised and regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority who’ll get to work right away on your case on a no win no fee basis.
Select A Section
- A Guide to Accident Claims For Injuries Suffered At Alicante–Elche Airport
- What Do We Mean By An Accident At Alicante–Elche Airport?
- Alicante Airport And Spanish Air Transport Safety
- Potential Passenger And Visitor Safety Hazards At An Airport
- Airport Falls And Slips
- Accidents When Shopping Or At A Restaurant In Alicante Airport
- Baggage Carousel And Suitcase Accidents
- Accidents You Could Have When Moving Around Airports
- Shuttle Bus Crashes At An Airport
- How Spanish Accident And Injury Claims Work
- Do I Need To Claim With A Solicitor Based In Spain?
- Calculating Compensation For An Accident At Alicante–Elche Airport – Updated September 2021
- Special Damages Airport Accident Victims Could Claim
- Why Choose The Team At Accident Claims UK To Handle Your Claim?
- No Win No Fee Alicante–Elche Airport Accident Claims
- Start Your Alicante–Elche Airport Accident Claim
- Other Spanish Holiday Accident Guides
A Guide to Accident Claims For Injuries Suffered At Alicante–Elche Airport
This guide will identify some of the major health and safety hazards that exist in airports and walk you through some of the different ways a person could be injured that would justify making a claim for compensation. We will explain briefly how personal injury in Spanish law works and some of the ways it differs from English personal injury law, before discussing, the fundamentals of how personal injury compensation is calculated. Lastly, we’ll cover No Win, No Fee Agreements, an important factor in making a claim. These Agreements are designed to give you as much financial protection as possible and to give you the freedom and confidence to seek justice when making Alicante airport accident claims.
What Do We Mean By An Accident At Alicante–Elche Airport?
If at any point you get hurt in an accident while using any of the facilities at Alicante-Elche Airport and it was the fault of the airport’s operators or staff, then you could be entitled to compensation for the injuries or illness suffered. This accident could have happened in the airport itself, in the terminal building or in one of the bars or restaurants catering to passengers in the terminal building. It could be out on the apron or on one of the bus or tram services used by the airport to help passengers get to where they need to go. If the premises or the services where your injury took place were the responsibility of the airport, then the airport could be held liable and you could make Alicante airport accident claims.
If you suffer an accident while on the plane itself or while it is still aground, then under Montreal Convention 1999 the airline operator would be liable as opposed to the airport.
Alicante Airport And Spanish Air Transport Safety
Alicante is the fifth busiest airport in Spain, with 84,661 flights coming through in 2006. Operations began in 1967, and since then not a single fatal plane crash has been recorded involving any flights arriving or departing Alicante Airport. This highlights how safe air travel is and how low your chances of being involved in a plane crash are. That is not to say that safety incidents do not occur. A minor accident occurred in 2017 when the tail of an aircraft collided with the runway on landing. Nobody was injured. And in January 2020, a fire at caused the airport to be evacuated and closed for 24 hours.
Potential Passenger And Visitor Safety Hazards At An Airport
There are a wide variety of hazards that can cause accidents and injuries in airports leading to Alicante airport accident claims. Inside the terminal, there are the fairly commonplace and mundane dangers of slips, trips and falls and food poisoning at one of the shops or restaurants in the terminal. There is the threat of being injured by heavy luggage or by the equipment used to move it, particularly the baggage carousel.
The apron outside of the terminal is where most care has to be taken by the airport operators to prevent serious and possibly fatal accidents. In most airports there will be multiple aircraft getting prepared for take-off at any given time. That means there will always be vehicles moving around the apron. If passengers need to move across the apron, either on foot or in shuttle buses, the airport operators need to take care to ensure that airport ground traffic is carefully monitored and regulated to prevent accidents and collisions. Potentially hazardous areas should also be roped off, or passengers directed away by staff.
Planes themselves can be very dangerous to people on the ground. Operators must make sure that passengers aren’t able to go near a plane when it is in motion or when its engines are running. Even smaller passenger jet craft have engines large enough to create powerful suction as well as noise loud enough to cause hearing damage.
Airport Falls And Slips
In Spain, as in the UK, you could make a claim against a business for an accident that occurred on their property. Quite often in airports, such an accident involves a slip, trip or fall. If you were injured at Alicante–Elche Airport by slipping, tripping or falling over and you believe it wasn’t your fault, get in touch with our team to discuss whether you could be entitled to compensation. Here are a few examples of the kind of slip, trip and fall accidents that could happen in Alicante Airport:
- Slipping on a wet floor in the terminal building, one where a spill hadn’t been cleared up or the floor had recently been mopped and had no wet floor sign to warn people.
- Slipping on an icy patch of ground on the airport’s property because salt hadn’t been laid down to clear it up.
- Tripping on suitcases left in walkways.
- Tripping on a piece of carpet or linoleum that was torn or uneven.
- Tripping on a broken floor tile
- Falling at an airport because of inadequate lighting.
You may wish to also read this guide for more information on what we can do to help if you’ve had a slip, trip or fall while on holiday in Spain besides falling at the airport.
Accidents When Shopping Or At A Restaurant In Alicante Airport
The departure lounge at Alicante Airport has a range of shops and restaurants for you to browse, purchase souvenirs and have something to eat before you leave.
Accidents could occur in any of these places. You might be hurt while browsing in one of the shops. If the shelves or any of the goods stocked on them haven’t been assembled properly, you might be hurt if they fall on you. You could also suffer a slip, trip or fall the likes of which we talked about in the last section.
A claim for compensation could be made if someone suffered a burn because of the restaurant’s negligence. Burns and scalds can also be caused by the food itself if served at too a high temperature. Food that is not stored and prepared according to food hygiene standards could also make a customer sick, leading to the likes of salmonella.
If you were burned or made ill by food at Alicante Airport then you could have grounds to sue for compensation. You can get more information on what to do next by reading this Spain restaurant claims article, but more importantly, by calling our accident claims team for free advice.
Baggage Carousel And Suitcase Accidents
Luggage must be handled with care, suitcases can be heavy and can sometimes be stacked in a fashion that could pose a significant health and safety hazard. This is especially the case when it is being carried around on luggage trolleys. A collision with someone in the terminal could inflict a nasty injury. Injuries could also occur if members of staff mishandle luggage or if luggage trollies are faulty.
Airports should ensure that baggage carousels are organised safely. Luggage that isn’t loaded onto them properly could fall off and hit someone. The carousels themselves need to be well maintained and safe from potential hazards. I
If an accident occurred involving luggage or a baggage carousel and you think that the airport was at fault, then get in touch with our team for a free consultation.
Accidents You Could Have When Moving Around Airports
Since airports require a lot of space and handle thousands of passengers and flights on a regular basis, they are often vast places spread over a large area. As well as using shuttle buses and trams to help people get from one part of the airport to another, the terminal buildings might be so large that moving walkways are provided to make getting around swifter. This is in addition to other facilities like lifts, escalators and staircases.
People could have serious accidents involving any of these mechanisms if they are not properly maintained. Particularly in the case of escalators and moving walkways, people’s clothes or hair could get pulled into the moving parts, or people could trip and fall on unsteady or unstable steps. If staircases are wet, or if the flooring on the steps is unstable, or if the handrails aren’t secure, then people could fall and suffer significant injuries.
Shuttle Bus Crashes At An Airport
One of the many different types of vehicles that you will find travelling around an airport, as well as going to and from the airport to other destinations like bus terminals or stations, are shuttle buses. It is common for airports to be so big that the aircraft preparing for take-off is some distance away from the terminal. If the aircraft cannot board its passengers directly from the terminal using a jet bridge (an extendable tube connecting the plane to the terminal building) then the passengers would have to cross the apron to the plane. Due to the distance and how busy the apron may be with other planes and vehicles this might be impractical and unsafe. Many airports use shuttle buses to ferry passengers from the terminal buildings to the aircraft, it is also common for shuttle buses to take passengers from the airport to their hotels or to and from car parks that may be some distance away from the terminal.
Any accident that could happen on a vehicle or public transport elsewhere could happen on one of these shuttle buses . Collisions could occur while driving around the airport or while driving to your destination. If it was caused by the bus driver’s negligence, or by poor maintenance of the vehicle, you could claim compensation from the airport if you were hurt. You could also claim compensation from the airport if the collision was caused by one of the airports’ other vehicles.
Some airports have their own tram or train network to help passengers get around. As with shuttle buses, you could claim against the airport if, for example, you fell because of a broken seat, or experienced a slip trip or fall because of a faulty or broken handrail.
If you suffered an accident on a bus or coach that was not operated by or connected to the airport while you were in Spain, this article may prove useful.
How Spanish Accident And Injury Claims Work
Just like in the UK you can make a personal injury claim in Spain if you can prove that a third party owed you a duty of care, breached that duty, and as a result, you suffered an injury or illness. Since this basic principle is the same and much of the legal work can be done by a personal injury lawyer, your experience as the claimant will be broadly the same as it would be in the UK, in most cases. However, there are some important differences between how personal injury claims work in the UK and how they work in Spain.
One important difference is the way Spanish law calculates the amounts awarded in personal injury claims. In Spanish law, the value of an injury and its effects is measured according to the Baremo system. This is a points-based system by which the severity of an injury is quantified. The more severe the injury the higher the number of points awarded and therefore, the higher the corresponding compensation award will be. Things like the disfigurement and trauma caused by the injury are factored into the points calculation, with the maximum score that can be awarded being 100 points.
Another distinguishing feature of Spanish personal injury law is the claimant’s ability to request an interruption of the claim. This puts proceedings on hold while the claimant and their solicitor conduct further work on their case. This is useful if more time is needed to obtain evidence. . However the claimant needs to provide a good reason for requesting the interruption, it is much less likely to be granted if it is just an attempt to buy more time.
Do I Need To Claim With A Solicitor Based In Spain?
It will not always be necessary to use a Spanish-based personal injury solicitor to make a claim in Spain. A UK-based specialist solicitor like those on our panel will be able to handle the claim. This question is answered in more detail on this guide to using a Spain solicitor page. To find out what solicitor can work on your claim, call our advisors and discuss your situation with them.
Calculating Compensation For An Accident At Alicante–Elche Airport – Updated September 2021
As mentioned above, the manner in which personal injury compensation in Spain is calculated differs somewhat from how it is calculated in Britain. Therefore the numbers in the compensation calculator below may not reflect how much your personal injury claim would be worth under Spanish law. Still we feel that it may prove useful to read through this compensation calculator.
| Injury | Notes | Compensation |
| Very severe ankle injuries | Serious fractures and soft tissue damages causing deformity and potentially necessitating surgeries such as arthodesis, arthoplasty or below knee amputations. | £46,980-£65,420 |
| Severe ankle injuries | Injuries requiring a prolonged period of treatment and/or having the leg in plaster and/or having plates or pins inserted into the leg. | £29,380-£46,980 |
| Moderate ankle injuries | Fractures and ligament damage causing pain, discomfort and difficulty when walking on uneven surfaces, climbing stairs and standing still for long periods. This band includes irritation caused by metal plates, scarring and the risk of osteoarthritis in the future. | £12,900-£24,950 |
| PTSD | Moderately severe | £21,720 – £56,180 |
| Damage to teeth (i) | Loss of or serious damage to several front teeth | £8,200-£10,710 |
| Damage to teeth (ii) | Loss of, or serious damage to two front teeth | £4,080-£7,160 |
| Damage to teeth (iii) | Loss of, or serious damage to one front tooth | £2,070-£3,710 |
| Damage to teeth (iiii) | loss of or damage to back teeth | £1,020-£1,600 |
| Clavicle fracture | Dependent on severity and extent | £4,830 – £11,490 |
Special Damages Airport Accident Victims Could Claim
In Spanish personal injury claims, as with British personal injury claims, you can receive compensation for any money you may have lost as a result of the accident. If the injuries are significant enough, you may also be able to claim for loss of future earnings too. As well as this, you may also be able to claim for:
- Medical expenses
- Travel expenses
- Care expenses
- Loss of enjoyment of your holiday
- Loss of enjoyment of other planned activities and events
Why Choose The Team At Accident Claims UK To Handle Your Claim?
Our team of specialist solicitors has decades of experiences in handling claims such as Alicante airport accident claims. You can be sure they’ll fight tooth and nail to get you the maximum amount of compensation possible. They’ll guide you through the legal process, explaining all of the unnecessary legal jargon along the way. And if at any time you have a query or would simply like an update on your claim, they’ll be on hand to help.
No Win No Fee Alicante–Elche Airport Accident Claims
Accident Claims UK can put you in touch with a quality solicitor who can give you the option of entering into a No Win No Fee Agreement. Also known as a Conditional Fee Agreement (CFA), it’s designed to give you the ability to pursue a claim without paying any fees upfront or during your claim. And if your claim is unsuccessful, you will not have to pay any of the fees your solicitor has incurred in pursuing it. In the event your claim is successful, your solicitor may ask for a small contribution towards their costs. This is known as a success fee and is deducted from the compensation you are awarded at the end of your claim. When a client and a solicitor enter into a No Win No Fee Agreement the solicitor will discuss it with you in detail and, of course, you can ring us at any time for further detail.
Start Your Alicante–Elche Airport Accident Claim
If you want to find out about starting a personal injury claim against Alicante-Elche Airport then you can do so right now by calling 0800 073 8801 for a free consultation. Or you can put in a request for a phone call from our team at a time that suits you with this start a claim form. You can also reach our email at office@accidentclaims.co.uk. We look forward to representing you.
Could I make Alicante airport accident claims for allergic reactions?
If you are travelling through Alicante airport, you may decide to grab something to eat from one of the restaurants or food vendors. If you have allergies, you would usually check the allergy menu or ask serving staff what would be safe for you to eat. Should you be given the wrong information, or no information at all, this could lead you to unknowingly consuming an allergen. If you could prove that the food business had been negligent in this regard, and had caused your allergic reaction, you could make a claim for compensation. Food allergy claims could be made for minor allergic reaction symptoms, such as hives, stomach problems and suchlike. It could also be the case that you could sue for an anaphylaxis reaction if a food businesses negligence had caused it. We would be happy to assess your case to see if we could help you fight for the compensation you deserve for an allergic reaction. Our specialist solicitors would be happy to take on your claim on a no win no fee basis.
Could I claim compensation on behalf of a child by making Alicante airport accident claims?
If you are travelling through Alicante airport with a child and they are injured in an accident that wasn’t their fault, you could make Alicante airport accident claims on their behalf. Since the law requires somebody to be over the age of 18 to make a claim, your child would not be able to claim for themselves until they reached this age. However you could make a claim as their litigation friend. You would usually have up to their 18th birthday to do so. If you’d like to learn more about how to go about this, please call our team. We’d be happy to talk you through the process and help you get started.
Other Spanish Holiday Accident Guides
Holiday Accident claims – Spain – Could you claim?
Illness or injury in Spain – This guide explains more about illness or injury in Spain.
Other references
British Consulate – find details of the consulate here.
Flight delays or cancellations – What are your rights?
www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-24166033
Here ends this Alicante airport accident claims guide.