Legal Experts Instructed To Represent Passengers Repeat Calls For Improvements In Standards

By Rob Dixon

Travel law experts have been instructed to represent a client following a serious minibus crash in Croatia which has left ten British tourists injured. Legal action will now be commenced against the insurers of the driver of the minibus.

All of those involved were hospitalised following the incident on Friday (July 12th), when the minibus reportedly hit a barrier as it was transporting the Britons from a music festival to the airport in Zagreb. The driver of the bus was also injured in the incident.

The Manchester Evening News reports that the tourists injured in the crash were from the north west of England, with many being former pupils at a school in Altrincham.

Irwin Mitchell’s international travel lawyers specialise in acting for victims seriously injured in bus and coach crashes in the UK and abroad, and have successfully represented hundreds of victims of coach crashes in countries including the US, Spain, Italy, Bulgaria, Austria, Germany, Turkey, Morocco, Thailand and South Africa.

The team currently represents 25 Britons injured in a fatal coach crash in Reims in February 2012 as well as a number of passengers injured in a fatal incident close to the Alpe d’Huez resort in the French Alps in April this year.

Clive Garner, the head of the Travel Law team at Irwin Mitchell who has personally acted for dozens of people seriously injured in bus and coach accidents abroad, said it is vital that as much as possible can be learned about the incident.

He outlined: “It is clearly too early to determine the exact cause of this crash but work has now commenced in this regard and as well as liaising with the authorities in Croatia we have now begun our own investigations into the likely cause of the accident. Driver error and driver fatigue are often factors in crashes of this kind, but a mechanical fault with the minibus or other factors cannot yet be ruled out as potential causes.

“All of those injured in the crash and their families will be keen for answers as to what happened and as innocent passengers I am sure they will all want lessons to be learned and justice to be done.

“A number of passengers have been seriously injured and this is a devastating blow for them and their families. It is vital that they now receive the medical treatment they need and, in due course, the best available rehabilitation services and other support to help them re-build their lives.

 “It is very worrying to see another major crash involving British tourists, especially following the terrible bus, coach and minibus tragedies seen in the past 18 months in other countries. For more than 10 years we have repeatedly urged that more should be done to improve bus and coach safety both in the UK and abroad to reduce the risk of death and serious injury.

“This includes better training and monitoring of drivers, enhanced breaks and better facilities for drivers to get the rest they need between shifts, enhanced monitoring of servicing and the maintenance of buses, coaches and minibuses (particularly abroad) and the selection of the safest routes. We hope that bus, coach and minibus operators and industry regulators will now do more to improve safety standards and reduce the risk of another similar accident occurring in the future.”

Read more about Irwin Mitchell's expertise in relation to Coach Accidents Abroad