HOLIDAY TRAGEDY Manchester grandad Shaun Walley electrocuted ‘by cheap Thailand hotel’s HANDRAIL’ as family fight to raise £10,000 to bring body home

[Rancid]

Of course very sad foe the family, compensation should be due. However he is dead and moved on, why waste all that money flying a soulless corpse back to the UK, cremation here would do the job.

[David Walden]

On 11/9/2017 at 12:12 PM, nahkit said:

I agree with most of what you say but there are a couple of points I'd like to make.

 

"Family in those cases really shouldn't be burdened with the additional turmoil of financial hardships because the traveler didn't bother to obtain appropriate travel insurance coverage"  - your right, the family shouldn't be burdened, the people who should take responsibility are those who caused his death.

 

If Shaun Walley had been insured then in all probability his body would have been shipped back by his insurers and apart from family and a few friends no-one would of ever heard of what happened to him here in Thailand.

If he had been a Thai nobody would have heard about it either.  This sort of things happens to Thais everyday.

[digbeth]

searching through the Thai newspapers, which usually reports everything gruesome, and I couldn't find reports of a brit electrocuted to death in hotels anywhere this year, found only brit guy fixing his water pumps in Rayong and another dutch guy electrocuted in hotel pool in Phuket

[David Walden]

1 hour ago, Rancid said:

Of course very sad foe the family, compensation should be due. However he is dead and ma fan,oved on, why waste all that money flying a soulless corpse back to the UK, cremation here would do the job.

My friend who lives near up North in Thailand has already paid the local Monks to take care of his body when his turn come up (we all get a turn).  He is English, he has paid 70 English Pounds already.  He says some of his friends and his wife might have to buy a few things to give to the Monks for them to send along for his after life, like a fridge, a fan, some nice furniture etc. etc.  You should hear what he got to say about that.  It's out of his money (which he won't need).  He has requested the added extras. That is, when all is concluded after 3 days they put a big cracker under the ashes and lite the fuse...BANG...off in a puff of smoke and dust.  Save a da money he keeps on saying.  All already paid for.  He thinks he knows what happens to the after life things.  The Monks do have a nice shop down the road selling only slightly use fridges and furniture at a respectable price.

[irishken]

I'm visiting Thailand in February next year and i've had to take out two policies to cover my trip.

One is to cover for any events related to my Father who is in a nursing home. I paid an extra 45 Euro per ticket(4 tickets) with last minute.com when booking. In the event of cancellation they will give me a voucher to be used within 12 months at 90% of the cost of my tickets, no questions asked and i can cancel right up to 24 hours before departure. My Father has been that sick that i know my second policy which is for me and my family won't cover any cancellations if anything happens to him. 

My mother died last time i was in Thailand so i know this to be true as she wasn't in great health either and they just put it down to pre condition. 

 

I've always bought travel insurance and its only when you need it that you realize how important it is. My daughter got Pneumonia a few years ago while on Koh Samui and it required a few visits to the  Bangkok Hospital E.R before she was then admitted when she got too bad. Been told that it is 30000 Baht a night really doesn't enter your mind when you know you have insurance. I had been in contact with my insurance company through the whole process and they were great and advised me each time to admit her to hospital without any hesitation if needed. They contacted my hotel and booked extra nights for me,pay for flights and even the taxi from the airport in Dublin to my house. 

 

The price paid for insurance is irrelevant and no matter how much it costs, it will only cost you more if you don't get it and end up needing it. 

[Russell17au]

Gregster, When I left Australia to come and live here my Medibank private insurance for in Australia only was $2200pa and my excess was $500. I took out travel insurance with them to travel here until I could sort out other arrangements and they wanted $3000 for a 30 day cover with an excess of $850 for each claim. I was 68 at the time

Edited November 10, 2017 by Russell17au
left something out

[Nemises]

The travel insurance content on the thread below may interest.

The AU girl who may lose her leg, had her travel insurance voided presumably for not having a motor bike licence.

Go toward the end of the thread to read how the LOS hospital is (quite rightfully) holding her hostage until she coughs up the ca$h.

Moral of the story: ALWAYS read your travel insurance policy’s PDS... especially if you’re going to ride a motorcycle or drink alcohol whilst abroad.


Aussie woman’s birthday trip to Thailand a ‘holiday from hell’ after horror scooter crash

https://www.thaivisa.com/forum/index.php?/topic/1009149-Aussie-woman%E2%80%99s-birthday-trip-to-Thailand-a-%E2%80%98holiday-from-hell%E2%80%99-after-horror-scooter-crashhttps://www.thaivisa.com/forum/index.php?/topic/1009149-Aussie-woman%E2%80%99s-birthday-trip-to-Thailand-a-%E2%80%98holiday-from-hell%E2%80%99-after-horror-scooter-crash

[Russell17au]

A lot of it from the insurance companies is because Thailand has the highest motorcycle fatalities and the second highest road fatalities in the world. over 1 million injured and 26000 deaths on Thailand's roads per year. But tourists will still come and hire motor scooters when they do not have a license to do so. What does it take to get some commonsense into their heads

[metisdead]

Off topic posts and replies have been removed. 

[Russell17au]

There still has not been anything in any of the Thai news report about this case and to date there is still no police report.

I feel that this is a scam the same as the posting about the Brit being mugged in Patong. I feel that they are both only interested in defrauding people of their money.

If they want to list the name of the hotel and the location that this grandfather died and more details about how the railing was electrified then maybe there could be some truth in the story but until then I believe it is nothing but another scam through one of these "GoFundMe" sites

[David Walden]

55 minutes ago, Russell17au said:

A lot of it from the insurance companies is because Thailand has the highest motorcycle fatalities and the second highest road fatalities in the world. over 1 million injured and 26000 deaths on Thailand's roads per year. But tourists will still come and hire motor scooters when they do not have a license to do so. What does it take to get some commonsense into their heads

If you want to live a full life live dangerously.  I'm not sure who said that, I think it was a Formula 1 driver some years ago, made millions.

[Myran]

A horrible way to go and I can only imagine the tragedy the family is going through. I do not, however, understand some people's obsession with spending a small fortune to bring a body back, especially when they are not willing to use their own money to do it. Have the body cremated in Thailand and then bring back the ash. Spend the money on people who actually need help down here.

[David Walden]

46 minutes ago, Russell17au said:

There still has not been anything in any of the Thai news report about this case and to date there is still no police report.

I feel that this is a scam the same as the posting about the Brit being mugged in Patong. I feel that they are both only interested in defrauding people of their money.

If they want to list the name of the hotel and the location that this grandfather died and more details about how the railing was electrified then maybe there could be some truth in the story but until then I believe it is nothing but another scam through one of these "GoFundMe" sites

Tell me more about these GoFundMe sites I may have a go myself.

[Daveuk]

I remember reading a book by Barry Kenyan who was the British Vice Consun in Pattaya for a few years. He had to deal with cases like this when he gave advice to the families of guys who had died there. 

One amusing story is about a widow of a Pats deceased who asked Barry if bodies qualified for duty free whiskey and cigarettes.

its a really good read !

[David Walden]

6 hours ago, Daveuk said:

I remember reading a book by Barry Kenyan who was the British Vice Consun in Pattaya for a few years. He had to deal with cases like this when he gave advice to the families of guys who had died there. 

One amusing story is about a widow of a Pats deceased who asked Barry if bodies qualified for duty free whiskey and cigarettes.

its a really good read !

I attended an X-pats meeting in Chiang Mai about 4 years ago.  The guest speaker was the British Consul.  Figures he quoted were Approx 65,000 Brits reside in Thailand at anyone time.  Many are long term mature aged residents enjoying there senior but limited years there.  The death rate is relatively higher then in the normal population as many are quite old. The British Embassy has a staff of about 130 people, more then half of them are Thais.  50% of his time and the other Embassy staff is taken up sorting out and settling matters in relation to Brits dying in Thailand.  There are thousands each year and most cases are legally complicated.   He said he believed other countries Legations were just as busy as the Brits, USA, Australia, Europe etc. they all have to help each other because many are mixed marriages, all take up a lot of time.  They get involved with the police, cause of death, repatriating bodies, wills, banking requirements, arranging funerals in Thailand and in particularly assisting the deceased partner with arrangements, they mostly have no idea what to do.  The list goes on.

Edited November 11, 2017 by David Walden

[smotherb]

On 11/8/2017 at 8:31 PM, LomSak27 said:

The only person that is on a high horse is you. Stop blaming other posters for your own problems.

 

Now are you going to answer my question or just deflect again?

Well, I am happy to see you have seen my high horse. I didn't think question was anything more than rhetorical. But alas I see from my high horse that others are not as, shall we say, cognizant.

 

You see, my poor misguided friend, the hotel, although no doubt liable, most likely did not intentionally cause the accident; whereas, the low-life scammers most assuredly premeditate the scams.

 

So, now that I have repeated the obvious to satiate your indignance, prey tell, how am I blaming others for my own problems?

 

[LomSak27]

7 hours ago, smotherb said:

Well, I am happy to see you have seen my high horse. I didn't think question was anything more than rhetorical. But alas I see from my high horse that others are not as, shall we say, cognizant.

 

You see, my poor misguided friend, the hotel, although no doubt liable, most likely did not intentionally cause the accident; whereas, the low-life scammers most assuredly premeditate the scams.

 

So, now that I have repeated the obvious to satiate your indignance, prey tell, how am I blaming others for my own problems?

First if you re read  my posts  I am not on a high horse, but you certainly are. Obviously the thought , the idea that people are scamming upsets the bejeus out of you. Great, calm down ! More than that it is nothing more than an agitated deflection so common on these forums today. 

In this case the hotel itself caused the mans death.  Yet you do not consider them scammers. Actually they are, they scammed the public with their shoddy unsafe accommodation and a persion died because of it. That fits the term premeditated. They knew it was cheap and shoddy and did not care. I doubt that they bothered themselves much as they carted the corpse out and went back to business as usual.

Lucky for them they have TT defenders here on a supposed expat forum.

 

Edited November 12, 2017 by LomSak27

[The Deerhunter]

On 08/11/2017 at 3:42 AM, wakeupplease said:

You just had to get the Not insured in did you not, so sad.

 

You forget the hotel is liable as they are at fault and the country for not making sure hotels and the likes of follow strict safety regulations, if they have any and anyone who is not a lazy B and gets off their read and does checks on hotels.

 

This is not an accident, its bloody murder by neglect.

 

Just another farang who cares?

 

The tourist industry will that is for sure in time.

 

If TAT and the country had any respect for tourists, they would pay the costs of their neglect.

More reason for Thais to not take responsibility for anything?    You are on your own out here Buddy unless you have your own good insurance.   This is the Wild West (or the wild Southeast) as it happens.   Zero chance of anyone fronting of their responsibility.  Hotel or Government!!  Know this and act accordingly before you come.   And as for someone suggesting get a good lawyer,    555!!!

Edited November 13, 2017 by The Deerhunter

[smotherb]

6 hours ago, LomSak27 said:

First if you re read  my posts  I am not on a high horse, but you certainly are. Obviously the thought , the idea that people are scamming upsets the bejeus out of you. Great, calm down ! More than that it is nothing more than an agitated deflection so common on these forums today. 

In this case the hotel itself caused the mans death.  Yet you do not consider them scammers. Actually they are, they scammed the public with their shoddy unsafe accommodation and a persion died because of it. That fits the term premeditated. They knew it was cheap and shoddy and did not care. I doubt that they bothered themselves much as they carted the corpse out and went back to business as usual.

Lucky for them they have TT defenders here on a supposed expat forum.

 

You really have no idea do you?  Where are you? Is Thailand a nanny-state? You see people die in accidents and the perpetrator who caused it is fines a few hundred baht. The hotel used the alternative plea, "so solly, but no money"  The hotel took the cheap way out. Why? To kill someone or to save money? Even the old gent who died my have taken the cheap way, not to die but to save money.  However, trying to save money or not is not the issue; the old man died as a result of an accident. The scams are no accidents; or is that too complicated for you.

[overherebc]

1 hour ago, The Deerhunter said:

More reason for Thais to not take responsibility for anything?    You are on your own out here Buddy unless you have your own good insurance.   This is the Wild West (or the wild Southeast) as it happens.   Zero chance of anyone fronting of their responsibility.  Hotel or Government!!  Know this and act accordingly before you come.   And as for someone suggesting get a good lawyer,    555!!!

I know only jokes about good lawyers.

Re insurance, self and SWMBO do a bit of travelling outside Thailand and she always gets some kind of insurance for us no matter where we travel. 

[thaibeachlovers]

7 hours ago, LomSak27 said:

First if you re read  my posts  I am not on a high horse, but you certainly are. Obviously the thought , the idea that people are scamming upsets the bejeus out of you. Great, calm down ! More than that it is nothing more than an agitated deflection so common on these forums today. 

In this case the hotel itself caused the mans death.  Yet you do not consider them scammers. Actually they are, they scammed the public with their shoddy unsafe accommodation and a persion died because of it. That fits the term premeditated. They knew it was cheap and shoddy and did not care. I doubt that they bothered themselves much as they carted the corpse out and went back to business as usual.

Lucky for them they have TT defenders here on a supposed expat forum.

 

A scam is done with premeditation, and you are saying that the hotel deliberately set out to electrocute a customer .

If "cheap and shoddy" hotels all had to close tomorrow, half the tourists would have no where to stay.

If you don't like the reality of cheap hotels here feel free to stay in 5 * hotels, or even better for your safety, don't set foot in LOS. After all, you are far far more likely to die on the roads than in an hotel.

[LomSak27]

3 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

If you don't like the reality of cheap hotels here feel free to stay in 5 * hotels, or even better for your safety, don't set foot in LOS. After all, you are far far more likely to die on the roads than in an hotel.

 I generaly expect places I stay in to not kill you. I can understand you do not feel this way. Have fun, and on the upside, at least its quicker than the long con.

Cheers

Edited November 13, 2017 by LomSak27

[irishken]

5 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

If you don't like the reality of cheap hotels here feel free to stay in 5 * hotels, or even better for your safety, don't set foot in LOS. After all, you are far far more likely to die on the roads than in an hotel.

So because you choose to stay in a cheap hotel you should accept that your life could be in danger?

Do they advertise this at the front desk when checking in?

Nice comment

[Russell17au]

Something is still not right here.

It does not matter if you check into a cheap hotel or a luxury 5 star resort you only give the staff at the check in counter your passport. You do not give the name and phone number of your next of kin. If anything happens to you at the hotel then they contact the Thai police who then contact the embassy of your country who contacts the next of kin.

Question 1 how did an employee of the hotel get the next of kin's name and phone number?

Question 2 Why is there no police report or news report about this in Thailand?

Question 3 Why has the British Embassy not contacted the next of kin to assist with everything?

Too many things do not add up about this

[David Walden]

1 hour ago, irishken said:

So because you choose to stay in a cheap hotel you should accept that your life could be in danger?

Do they advertise this at the front desk when checking in?

Nice comment

The Answer to this is probably yes.  Thais are most likely to believe if you stayed in the hotel, common knowledge is that the whole electrical system is not earthed, you will soon see that that is common all over Thailand.  There are no 3 pin power outlets so electrical appliances you buy are not earthed.   Dangling electrical wire in public places, restaurants, even in the streets, dangerous piggy backed electrical plugs everywhere especially at markets.  You are aware of the risk, you took the risk, you came to Thailand so that's that...you died.  In my earlier post on this matter I mentioned  about the British laws of precedence is often used to settle matters in countries linked to England, not likely in Thailand.  I believe in their own minds that's mostly how Thais see things.  Don't like it but that's the way things are.  Love it or leave it.  Go to court, well you might be lucky?...don't hold your breath.

Edited November 13, 2017 by David Walden

[wakeupplease]

Walk into a hotel put your hand on a handrail and die

 

Only in Thailand could this happen and sorry we ain't got no money to help you even though its our fault.

 

The worlds deadliest roads and now the killer hotels.

[LomSak27]

13 hours ago, David Walden said:

you will soon see that that is common all over Thailand.  There are no 3 pin power outlets so electrical appliances you buy are not earthed.   Dangling electrical wire in public places, restaurants, even in the streets, dangerous piggy backed electrical plugs everywhere especially at markets.  You are aware of the risk, you took the risk, you came to Thailand so that's that...you died.

I doubt that 99.8 per cent of tourists coming to Thailand know this. If was spelled out like you did about 50 per cent would quit coming.

 

So nothing is said to them, nothing published in books and no tourist agencies mention it. The Thai Governement would go ballistic if it was.

 

But that doesn't stop you from saying; they all know about it and it is their own fault if they come here and tough bugsmear if they die.

 

Classic 

 

Don't ever get rational, Keep the insanity!

[wanjieming]

What a scam.
Tickets Bangkok to London costs only 700$
Why 10 000 $?
Just buy him a normal ticket and sit the body next to you.
And you can eat twice more. Because he doesn't need to eat.

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk

[wakeupplease]

41 minutes ago, wanjieming said:

What a scam.
Tickets Bangkok to London costs only 700$
Why 10 000 $?
Just buy him a normal ticket and sit the body next to you.
And you can eat twice more. Because he doesn't need to eat.

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk
 

Your wisdom astounds us thank you, perhaps a job with the government is a reward you will get soon.

 

Problem is the body (RIP) has to travel in the hold of the aircraft and kept frozen which needs special equipment, then there are people on both ends to transport it and of course the funeral expenses. If it had happened in most other countries they would have kept it low key and not want tourists to know and paid as they probably own a large share in the national airline. Here its a farang so <deleted>.

Edited November 15, 2017 by wakeupplease

[Here It Is]

On ‎11‎/‎7‎/‎2017 at 9:42 PM, imaderbyfan said:

Not insured I assume....

If not ...why not.....?

This is a certain accident, and would be covered by the most modest layout for cover..

On ‎11‎/‎8‎/‎2017 at 3:42 AM, wakeupplease said:

You just had to get the Not insured in did you not, so sad.

 

You forget the hotel is liable as they are at fault and the country for not making sure hotels and the likes of follow strict safety regulations, if they have any and anyone who is not a lazy B and gets off their read and does checks on hotels.

 

This is not an accident, its bloody murder by neglect.

Both very valid points. 

 

If the deceased had been covered by a half decent travel insurance policy then his body would have been repatriated at the earliest and would obviously save further grief to his family and the unnecessary poncing about on crowdfunding websites.

 

The negligence of the hotel could be dealt with thereafter, if at all, but travel insurance would also cover legal expenses, up to a point, in pursuing a claim against the hotel.  

 

In summary, always sensible to have a comprehensive travel insurance policy which generally costs no more than an afternoon down the pub.