Hungary Accident Claims Guide – How To Claim Compensation For A Personal Injury In Hungary? On Holiday

Hungary holiday accident

Hungary holiday accident

Hungary is one of the most visited countries in Europe, and in in 2016 over 376,000 British tourists visited the country. The main types of holiday people take here include city breaks to Budapest, visits to Lake Balaton, and skiing holidays in the Carpathian mountain range. With an incredible array of outdoor and city break destinations and activities on offer, most visitors to the country will have a relaxing and enjoyable time.

Unfortunately, not every visit will have a happy ending and each year some visitors will experience an accident on holiday in Hungary. From a car accident to a skiing accident, there are numerous ways in which tourists can fall victim to an accident. If you are one of these visitors or holidaymakers the team at Accident Claims UK could help you to make a holiday compensation claim.

Find out more about how our holiday accident claims team can help you in this guide.

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How To Deal With Accidents On Holiday When You Are Abroad

A Guide To Claims For An Accident On Holiday In Hungary

At Accident Claims UK we are experienced in helping people to make successful holiday compensation claim for injury or illness suffered in the UK or abroad.

Our team understand how stressful being ill or injured whilst you are abroad can be. When you come back home, you may need to take further time of work, or you may even need to spend more time and money abroad recovering from your accident or illness. This can leave you very much out of pocket and cause stress and strain for your wider family.

Making a claim for illness and accidents abroad can sometimes be a difficult or demanding process and this is much more likely to be the case if you try to do so without the support of a specialist personal injury solicitor experienced in this type of claim. If you have suffered an accident or injury whilst abroad, talk to Accident Claims UK.

Through this guide we will take you through what you should do if you have been injured whilst abroad, how to get emergency help and assistance, some of the different forms of accident which can happen, and how our service could help you to claim compensation.

Popular City Break And Ski Holiday Destinations In Hungary

Hungary is a popular destination for several different types of holiday and people visit the Central European country for city breaks, ski holidays, and escapes to the Hungarian countryside. Some of the most popular and visited destinations here include the following:

General Destinations

  1. Budapest
  2. Balaton
  3. Győr
  4. Debrecen
  5. Tokaj
  6. Sopron
  7. Pécs
  8. Eger
  9. Danube Bend
  10. Gyula

Popular Ski Resorts

  1. Síaréna Eplény
  2. Mátraszentistván Sipark
  3. Zempléni-hegy – Sátoraljaújhely

If you have been injured or become sick whilst visiting or staying at any of these Hungarian destinations, please contact our team to see if you can make a personal injury claim.

What To Do If You Have An Accident Whilst Abroad

For most of us, a holiday is something which we will often look forward to for a long time, and which you may well have had to save up for over a longer period of time. The one thing which you probably have not planned on or for is being injured in an accident or becoming ill because of something such as food poisoning. So what do you do if your holiday turns into a nightmare.

The first things to do are to get any healthcare that you require and that your accident, injury or illness is reported to the correct and relevant parties.

If you suffer an illness or injury

If you are staying at a hotel or a holiday resort, you should report any accidents on their property, or illness caused by eating their food to them. As well as starting to create an official record of your accident or illness, reporting this to the hotel might also allow your hotel to direct you to or to provide an on-call doctor. If you are on a package holiday you should also notify your holiday rep so that it is recorded with the tour operator. You may also need to notify your travel insurance provider.

  • Gather together any relevant information about the treatment you are provided.
  • Make a note of your injury or illness, a doctors report can be very useful for your claim.
  • Keep the receipts for anything you need to pay for, from healthcare to additional hotel costs or changes to your flights.
  • If you were injured whilst driving in Hungary, take the other drivers details such as their name and vehicle registration or insurance details.
  • If anyone was witness to your accident or illness, ask for their details.
  • Write down notes about your accident and if you can, take a photo of the scene.

Next, we shall look at how to access the emergency services.

Hungarian Tourist Information – Emergency Services

We should note that if you have been involved in a very major accident or a member of your holiday party has suffered a fatal accident you can contact the local British Embassy for consular assistance. We have included contact details at the bottom of this guide.

If you have been injured in an accident on holiday, there are several Hungarian emergency services which you can contact. If you contact the central helpline number calls can be answered in Hungarian, German, and English among other languages.

  • Central emergency service helpline number – 112
  • Ambulance service – 104
  • Police service – 107
  • Fire brigade – 105

Budapest Specific Numbers

  • English language 24 hour medical assistance – 06-1-2400-475
  • Pharmacy, open 24 hours, – 06-1-311-4439

After contacting the emergency services, you may next need to know how to access the Hungarian healthcare service.

How To Get Emergency Medical Care In Hungary

If you are a tourist or visiting the country for another reason, finding the right healthcare is not always easy to do, especially if you are not familiar with the local healthcare system. Not everyone you will encounter in the system may speak English. You should note that you may have to meet some or all of the cost of your treatment at the time of provision, and that healthcare costs can differ across the country, depending on a variety of factors.

You can call for an ambulance using the number provided above. This is a free call and you will subsequently be taken to the closest hospital.

If you need to see a GP please note that these will only work on certain days and at certain shift patterns. It is advisable to ask your hotel for a recommended service. If you need to see a doctor without an appointment you can often do so, but you may need to wait a while at the GP office.

Currently British residents can access healthcare in Hungary through the EHIC system under which basic healthcare is provided for free. This may change after the UK departs the EU. You need to present the card at the time of treatment, or within fifteen days of treatment. If you do not you may be charged for treatment.

This only covers necessary or emergency treatment and does not cover the cost of getting back to the UK in an emergency. Pre-existing conditions are not eligible for treatment.

How Long Do I Have To Claim Compensation For An Accident On Holiday In Hungary?

The personal injury claims time limit, how long you have to claim compensation, for accidents on holiday in Hungary differs from general claims made in the UK. To make sure you are aware of the relevant personal injury claims time limit for your case, please contact our team. Otherwise, we have included this handy table with the most up to date information at the time of publication.

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Cause of accident Personal injury claim time limit (claims in Hungary).
Hungary package holiday injury claims. Booked through a UK based package holiday company. 3 years
Illness and accidents abroad on independently booked holidays 5 years
Accident or injury on a flight from or to Hungary 2 years

These time limits can change, so for the latest information, please talk to our team.

Common Types Of Holiday Accident And Illness We Can Help You Claim For

Budapest City Breaks And Hungary Package Holiday Accident Claims

Many of the UK’s largest package travel and tour companies offer either city break packages to Budapest, multi-stop trips, or skiing holiday packages. Some of the most prominent of these include Thomas Cook, Saga, and Thomson. Many also specialise in offering specific types of holidays, such as Saga targeting the over 50’s, or Intrepid which offers to take people of the beaten tourist tracks.

Those who booked their holiday through a package holiday or tour operator in the UK are protected under the 1992 Package Travel, Package Holidays and Package Tours Regulations. This means that whilst your accident happened abroad, you can claim for a illness on a package holiday under the UK’s legal and courts system.

In this table, we have included the names and emergency contact details for relevant package holiday and package tour operators.

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Name of tour operator
TUI
Saga Holidays
Jet2 Holidays

Accidents In Hotels Abroad Claims

If you have been injured or made sick in a hotel as a fault of the staff or operator, our panel of personal injury solicitors experienced in hotel accident abroad claims could help you. We can help you to claim compensation for accidents in hotels abroad.

Your hotel operator owes you, as a guest, a duty of care to provide a safe and healthy environment. However, if you are injured or made sick, we can help.

Whether you were the victim of an accident in a swimming pool due to lack of supervision or poor design, slipped over on a floor because cleaning staff had left it slippery, contracted food poisoning from a meal served in the hotel, or were burned by scalding water in a shower, we can help you.

There are many ways in which people can be and are injured in hotels. The bottom line is that as long as the hotel was to blame, we could help you to claim compensation.

Food Poisoning And Restaurant Accident Claims

You could contract food poisoning or a waterborne illness through eating or drinking contaminated foods or drinks served at your hotel, through contaminated water in a swimming pool, or even contaminated water in your shower. The important thing is that we are ale to show that your hotel, or tour operator was responsible for your illness.

Some of the most common forms of illness on a package holiday often include;

  • Salmonella: the symptoms of this illness include diarrhoea, vomiting and cramps in your stomach. It is one of the most common types of food poisoning.
  • Gastroenteritis: common symptoms of this illness again include stomach cramping, vomiting and diarrhoea. It may also be accompanied by a high temperature or fever and aches and pains in your muscles.
  • E-Coli: you may experience similar symptoms to those above as well as a general feeling of fatigue and bloating or gas.

How much your personal injury claim may be settled for will depend on how long your illness lasts, and how severe it is. If your symptoms only last for up to a week you could be awarded between £1,250 and £3,300. However, if you experience a much more serious illness with symptoms which last for over a year (possible in extreme cases) you could be awarded £16,060 or more in compensation.

To find out how much you could claim, please contact our team today.

Slips Or Fall Overseas Accident Claims

If you slip or fall over due to damaged or broken flooring, slippery floors, or spillages which have not been cleaned up and are injured in your hotel, resort, or the airport, you could make a compensation claim.

You may have slipped and fallen over when embarking or disembarking your flight, or slipped by your hotel swimming pool and suffered secondary injuries. No matter how you were injured, if one of your holiday providers was to blame for your accident, one of the personal injury lawyers from our panel could be able to help you.

Hungary Skiing Accident Claims

Our team can help you to make a Hungary skiing accident or ski lift accident claim. With the combination of a lack of experience and awareness on the slope and the speed you are moving at, holidaymakers new to skiing can often end up with injuries. For the most part such accidents might only result in a sprained ankle, but on occasion they can be life-changing or even fatal.

If you can show that your Hungary skiing accident was caused by the action of another person, you may have a valid case. Another skier could have been negligent, you may not have been properly instructed in skiing or taken to an appropriate slope for a beginner, or it may be that the equipment you rented may have been faulty in some way. As long as it can be shown that another party was to blame, you may well have a valid claim.

If your skiing accident happened on an activity which was organised or booked as part of your package holiday, you may be able to bring the claim against them.

Car Accident Claims In Hungary

Hungary has a much higher rate of road traffic accidents than the UK and is one of the highest rates in the EU. In 2014 for every 100,000 people in the country there were 6.3 deaths on the roads. This is twice the rate of fatalities seen in the UK

Speed limits are higher in Hungary and combined with driving on opposite side of the road compared to the UK, holidaymakers are more vulnerable to car accidents. We do advise that if you are intending to drive during your holiday that you have active fully comprehensive car insurance in place before doing so.

If you are involved in a car or other road traffic accident with a local driver the Hungarian police will need to attend the scene of the accident. They will create a report of the incident and issue a copy to you. You will need to show this when leaving the country. The report will clearly show if the other driver was responsible for the accident, and can be used as evidence for your claim.

For your own records, you should write down information such as the name of the other driver and anyone who witnessed the accident. You should also note down the full registration details of the vehicle. Our strongest piece of advice is that you do not do, say, or signs anything which in any way assumes liability on your part. If you do not understand what the report says, ask to check it with your insurance company.

You should be able to bring your car accident claim in the UK, and our team can help you to do so.

Accidents On The Beach Or When Swimming In Hungary

Whilst the country is landlocked (meaning that it does not have any coast or access to the sea), it is home to the largest freshwater lake in Europe, lake Balaton. Popular activities at the lake include a variety of watersports such as sailing, kayaking, surfing, and, of course, swimming.

Through the summer months (between April and October) storms can strike the area with little warning. There is a storm warning service in effect and the lake will signal an incoming storm system. If you see red warning lights, you are not permitted to enter the water or use any craft in it.

Whilst insurance companies often categorise storms as an ‘act of God’, you can still claim compensation in some circumstances and for some injuries.

How Our Holiday Accident Compensation Claims Team Can Help You

Do I Have To Use A Hungarian Law Firm?

Whether you were hurt or became ill as a result of someone else’s actions on a package or independently booked holiday, our team and the panel of personal injury lawyers and solicitors we work with can help you.

People very often think that they will have to bring their personal injury claim abroad with a local lawyer or legal firm. This could not be further from the truth. If a UK based company, such as travel company is responsible for the accident you can bring the claim here, making the process much easier to carry out.

Holiday Accident Claims In Hungary Calculator

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How were you injured? How serious was it? Details of the injury Settlement amounts
Neck injuries Minor – severe This can cover what is a very wide range of different injuries to the neck. £2,150 – £130,060
Knee injuries Moderate – Severe Covering all forms of knee injury between these levels. Up to £84,360
Back injuries Minor – severe From minor to severe, this can cover a very wide range of different back injuries. £2,150 – £141,150
Hand injuries Minor Minor hand injuries up to the total effective loss of both of your hands. £800 – £176,660
Shoulder injuries Minor – severe Shoulder injuries may often be associated with injuries to the neck as well. Injuries in this could include breaks or fractures. £2,150 – £42,110
Fractured clavicle N/A How much you will be awarded depends upon the extent and severity of the fracture. £4,520 to £10,730
Arm injuries Minor/ moderate – severe The most severe form of arm injury in this category will fall short below amputation. Up to £114,810
Pelvis and hip injuries Lesser – severe The most serious cases could involve damage of/to the internal organs. £3,460 – £114,810
Wrist injuries Severity A – F Wrist injuries ranging from soft tissue injuries through to fractures, breaks or worse. Up to £52,490
Thumb injuries Trivial These can range from the most trivial type of injury, through Up to £48,080

No Win No Fee Claims For Accidents On Holiday In Hungary

In most instances what is called a ‘no win no fee’, or ‘conditional fee agreement’ will be put in place between client and solicitor, lawyer, or law firm. This agreement will set out in clear detail under what terms and conditions a solicitor is providing their services to a claimant. It should also state what these services are. It will say what work they will do for and on behalf of the claimant, as well as when and how they can expect to be paid. It should clearly show that payments will only be paid if and when the claimant gets a settlement.

If you choose to work with a member of our panel of solicitors you can rest assured that there will be no hidden extra costs. You will have no payments to make up front and no matter what happens during the claim, you will never be left out of pocket.

How We Help Victims Of Accidents Abroad

We offer a services which is guaranteed to be 100% no win no fee. We have a high success rate in helping people claim compensation, and can help you to claim compensation today.

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1. You can contact our personal injury claims team by email, phone call, or post. 2. Our team will then assess your claim and let you know whether you have a valid case or not. 3. Once you are ready, we can then start your claim.

Contact Our Holiday Accident Specialists

You can contact our team via the following methods.

You can call us on 0800 073 8801
You can send an email to us at Office@AccidentClaims.co.uk
Or you can fill in our contact form.

We are ready to start working on your claim today.

Helpful Contacts And Other Resources

British Embassy Hungary
Embassy of the United Kingdom, Budapest
Budapest,
Füge u. 5-7,
1022 Hungary
Telephone: +36 1 266 2888
Website: www.gov.uk/world/hungary
Opening hours: 9am – 9pm Mondays – Fridays

Healthcare Abroad In Hungary – NHS
In this NHS article, there is further and more detailed information on how to access medical services as a British national in Hungary.