In July 2007 Mrs Dale and her family landed in Turkey and got on the minibus to take them to their hotel. It was late at night and they had had a long flight so they all fell asleep. They were travelling along a bumpy road which woke a number of the passengers up. Much to their shock and horror they noticed that the driver seemed to be asleep and although they shouted out to him to wake up, unfortunately it was too late and the minibus was hit head on by a coach travelling in the opposite direction. Mrs Dale broke her leg in 6 places and surgery was carried out in Turkey to pin and plate the leg back together. Her son, Mitchell sustained a number of cuts to his head, two of which required stitches. Because the wounds were so deep, Mitchell had to undergo emergency surgery to clean the wounds out and put in stitches.
The driver of the minibus was prosecuted in Turkey and initially claimed that he had insisted that the passenger put seatbelts on but that they refused to do so and that this was the cause of the extent of the injuries. However, there were no seatbelts available to put on in any event and they were not asked to put them on.
Thankfully the driver’s allegations in this regard were not upheld by the Court in Turkey and he has been held fully responsible for the accident.
We now hope to be able to submit medical evidence to the Court in Turkey regarding the injuries which they sustained and that the Court will award them damages.