Brit in intensive care after Thailand moped crash as family can't afford to get him home

[webfact]

Josh Richardson a few weeks after the accident (Image: Jim Richardson / SWNS)

 

by Izzy Hawksworth, Emma Downey & Chiara Fiorillo

Josh Richardson suffered a fractured skull in Thailand but his insurers have refused to pay the £160,000 it would cost to return him to the UK - and his family are desperate to raise money

A British holidaymaker is in intensive care in Thailand after suffering serious head injuries in a moped accident.

 

Josh Richardson, 24, was involved in an accident in February after he went out on his moped for some food in the middle of the night in Bangkok.

 

The Ice Hockey player from Chorley, Lancashire, suffered a fractured skull but his insurers said they will not pay £160,000 to return him to the UK on a special air ambulance as they believe he was not wearing a helmet at the time.

 

The tourist's family are now trying to raise £200,000 as it has not been possible to prove whether the man was wearing a helmet or not.

 

Josh's mum Susan said: "It was such terrible news when we heard what had happened

 

Full story: https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/brit-intensive-care-after-thailand-29621601

 

-- © Copyright Mirror 2023-04-04

 

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[John Drake]

Yet another one. Terrible accident. No helmet. Skull fracture. No insurance. Giant hospital bills. Go Fund Me. 

[Celsius]

Do I have to donate?

[Ralf001]

Who's <deleted> are these massive repatriation costs pulled from ?

[4MyEgo]

Another day, another victim.

 

We can't depend on Thailand to stop allowing foreigners to come here and rent bikes, some without licenses and or wearing helmets, and most without insurance, or even reading the fine print of their insurance policies, especially when Thailand can't even control their own with a fair few driving unregistered motorbikes, no helmets, cars unregistered and also being unlicensed and uninsured.

 

To the think the police force would be out in force to stop people, maybe for their own tea money, but that's the reality of it.

 

GoFundMe, no, not me thanks.

 

 

 

Edited April 4, 2023 by 4MyEgo

[Ralf001]

Just now, 4MyEgo said:

Another day, another victim.

 

 

 

And another dead <deleted> family who beg for money.

[RickG16]

Surprised. Rarely see anyone ride around Bangkok without a helmet. Unless it was a quiet area.

[Liverpool Lou]

"His family friend Joanne Gibson, 56, has now set up a Go Fund Me to help support Josh's family.

She said: "How on earth are normal working people meant to pay it?

"Where are they meant to get this money from?"

 

Miss Gibson, they take out travel insurance and they make sure that they're not so stupid as to invalidate it, that's how they pay for it.

Edited April 4, 2023 by Liverpool Lou

[GroveHillWanderer]

5 minutes ago, RickG16 said:

Surprised. Rarely see anyone ride around Bangkok without a helmet. Unless it was a quiet area.

Most areas are fairly quiet in the middle of the night, though.

Edited April 4, 2023 by GroveHillWanderer

[Liverpool Lou]

6 minutes ago, Ralf001 said:

Who's <deleted> are these massive repatriation costs pulled from ?

ICU equipment and qualified medical staff to accompany the patient is expensive.  Getting the staff and the equipment back to Thailand has to be paid for also, in addition to any accommodation costs incurred in the UK.

[Liverpool Lou]

Just now, GroveHillWanderer said:

5 minutes ago, RickG16 said:

Surprised. Rarely see anyone ride around Bangkok without a helmet. Unless it was a quiet area.

Most areas are fairly quiet in the middle of the night.

I don't think so.  Have you ever been to Bangkok?

[billd766]

7 minutes ago, Ralf001 said:

Who's <deleted> are these massive repatriation costs pulled from ?

Well a special type of air ambulance aircraft is required along with a specialist medical team for at least 2 days.

 

Add to that the costs of visas for the medics and air crew, fuel costs, landing fees, parking fees, the existing hospital costs, the specialist ambulance and crew at each end to move him and the costs mount up considerably and quickly.

 

Yet as so many people do, he possibly didn't read the very small print specifying the conditions that would have given him the extra cover for a relatively low price. This brings him to where he is now.

 

[gearbox]

8 minutes ago, Liverpool Lou said:

"His family friend Joanne Gibson, 56, has now set up a Go Fund Me to help support Josh's family.

She said: "How on earth are normal working people meant to pay it?

"Where are they meant to get this money from?"

 

Miss Gibson, they take out travel insurance and they make sure that they're not so stupid as to invalidate it, that's how they're covered.

"Normal working people" are not entitled to have holidays in far away countries and roam on motorbikes in the middle of the night without helmet. Going out to buy food? Yeah...

[John Drake]

As this story and so many similar ones we see constantly on AN indicate, this is overwhelmingly a problem for young tourists. But when the calls for mandatory insurance pop up, it's always for retirement visas. From all these anecdotal events, it seems to me that retirees are a lot less likely to run up and then run out on giant hospital bills in Thailand than are the unprepared young tourists. 

[tgw]

6 minutes ago, gearbox said:

"Normal working people" are not entitled to have holidays in far away countries and roam on motorbikes in the middle of the night without helmet. Going out to buy food? Yeah...

 

entitled or not, low-priced flights are well within the means of unemployed people.

 

there is a huge problem with the cost of living in Western welfare countries, so the price of air travel is relatively low compared to social benefits people can claim.

[Chivas]

31 minutes ago, 4MyEgo said:

Another day, another victim.

 

We can't depend on Thailand to stop allowing foreigners to come here and rent bikes, some without licenses and or wearing helmets, and most without insurance, or even reading the fine print of their insurance policies, especially when Thailand can't even control their own with a fair few driving unregistered motorbikes, no helmets, cars unregistered and also being unlicensed and uninsured.

 

To the think the police force would be out in force to stop people, maybe for their own tea money, but that's the reality of it.

 

GoFundMe, no, not me thanks.

 

 

 

Bang on the money......

 

If you're unable to scrap yourself off the tarmac complete with parts hanging off and present yourself to hospital with an unfortunate wild spurious tale of having a run in with a gaggle of ladyboys down a back alley then frankly you're up shight creek.....

Edited April 4, 2023 by Chivas

[FritsSikkink]

31 minutes ago, RickG16 said:

Surprised. Rarely see anyone ride around Bangkok without a helmet. Unless it was a quiet area.

Loads of them if you are outside of the touristic parts.

[Emdog]

Thailand has perfectly good hospitals, no medical reason for him to return to UK (other than national health program to pay). As a bonus, Thailand probably has far more experience with motorcycle head injuries than the UK.

 

[kwilco]

47 minutes ago, webfact said:

as it has not been possible to prove whether the man was wearing a helmet or not.

So this is why the death rate in Thailand is so high. WHERE IS THE CRASH REPORT?

he truth is that the Thai police are simply not sufficiently trainined in crash and road safety protocol.

It is unlikely, in fact almost certain that the accident was not properly calibrated and analysed by the police so things like crash helmet, speed etc. will never be known within normal acceptable standards of proof.

 

failure to analyse and calibrate accidents means that Thailand has no knowledge of what is going on and cannot introduce effective road safety measures

[kwilco]

5 minutes ago, Emdog said:

Thailand has perfectly good hospitals, no medical reason for him to return to UK (other than national health program to pay). As a bonus, Thailand probably has far more experience with motorcycle head injuries than the UK.

 

You are making baseless assumptions - Thailand has dreadful hospitals and care is dependant on ability to pay. Ine of the most serious factors in RTIs is that Thailand has no proper emergency services, no trained first responders and no uniform, centralised ambulance services.

[Zapitapi]

there isnt much info of how he was "involved" in an accident.. another party involved or did he just fall and hit the road? maybe that was reported earlier in FEB.. anyone knows?

[Purdey]

Going off at a tangent for a minute, this is what people can expect if the British government puts healthcare in the hands of insurance companies - refusals to pay. Yes, I understand that one should look at the small print but a lot of people don't bother, thinking the insurance will take care of them and not understanding that insurers will look for every way to deny paying out.

[Liverpool Lou]

25 minutes ago, billd766 said:

Yet as so many people do, he possibly didn't read the very small print specifying the conditions that would have given him the extra cover for a relatively low price. 

Or, more accurately...

Yet as so many people do, he possibly didn't read the policy conditions, printed in normal font, specifying the conditions that would have given him the extra cover for a relatively low price.

 

"...the very small print..."

Jesus...now some posters are suggesting that the "small print" (that does not exist in insurance policies) is now "very small print"!

[IvorBiggun2]

2 minutes ago, kwilco said:

Thai police are simply not sufficiently trainined in crash and road safety protocol.

Why should they be when they basically buy their position or pay someone to take the entrance exam for them. 

[Taboo2]

Lack of preparation, irresponsibility and failure to think critically is not my responsibility.  No money from me.  I am tired of supporting bad behavior.

[Liverpool Lou]

7 minutes ago, kwilco said:

WHERE IS THE CRASH REPORT?

1)  Accident reports do not have to be presented to AN posters.

2) Police do not always attend traffic accidents in Thailand.

[Emdog]

2 minutes ago, kwilco said:

You are making baseless assumptions - Thailand has dreadful hospitals and care is dependant on ability to pay. Ine of the most serious factors in RTIs is that Thailand has no proper emergency services, no trained first responders and no uniform, centralised ambulance services.

You clearly don't know about Thai hospitals first hand.

In this case, Brit does not now need emergency services, first responders, etc. Yes Thailand is awful in that regard, with ambulances chasing each other and warfare, etc.

GF of friend was in ICU in Chonburi after mc crash(you do not want to go to one of those ICU's.... seems all mc head injuries). She got very good care, but injuries too much and died after one week

[Lucky Bones]

I think these stories appear in dozens of newspapers in dozens of countries every day.

As my Thai friends would say....."Not my Problem".????????

[gearbox]

3 minutes ago, kwilco said:

So this is why the death rate in Thailand is so high. WHERE IS THE CRASH REPORT?

he truth is that the Thai police are simply not sufficiently trainined in crash and road safety protocol.

It is unlikely, in fact almost certain that the accident was not properly calibrated and analysed by the police so things like crash helmet, speed etc. will never be known within normal acceptable standards of proof.

 

failure to analyse and calibrate accidents means that Thailand has no knowledge of what is going on and cannot introduce effective road safety measures

TiT...if everything was perfect you would be paying $20 for a noodle soup. Adjust to the local reality. In regards to motorcycle riding it means drive defensively and slowly, and don't ride without a helmet.

 

I drive a pickup very often in Samui, the motorcycle accident capital in the country, and I'm amazed how recklessly many farangs ride, young and old. Heaps without helmets, looking phones for directions, speeding, overtaking on both sides. Yesterday was waiting to pass through a road nearby bike hire shop, and observed how the shop owner was giving a middle age woman a lecture of type "Introduction to scooters and basic control" She is a danger to herself and the others.

[Liverpool Lou]

16 minutes ago, kwilco said:

You are making baseless assumptions - Thailand has dreadful hospitals and care is dependant on ability to pay. Ine of the most serious factors in RTIs is that Thailand has no proper emergency services, no trained first responders and no uniform,

Nonsense, you are making baseless assumptions.  191 accesses all emergency services, via RTP, just as 1669 accesses EMS ambulances, those EMS first responders are trained and they do wear medical attire.

Edited April 4, 2023 by Liverpool Lou