I had to pay up front to get help

HARRIET Berry knows all too well why travel insurance is vital when heading for the slopes – and to have evidence at hand if the worst happens.

The 21-year-old medical student from Banbury, Oxfordshire, has taken a couple of tumbles in the past three years.

The most recent, while on a medical school ski trip to Les Deux Alpes in France last Easter, did not lead to a claim, but she feared a high bill after seeking medical advice following a knock on the head.

She says: ‘It was the end of the third day and I came round a blind corner where a snowboarder had fallen. I clipped their board, fell and banged my head.’

Her friends got her to a doctor because she was complaining of just wanting to sleep – a sign of something potentially serious. But medical staff monitored her closely and she was released without requiring any further treatment.

In a previous incident two years earlier – while skiing offpiste in Banff, Canada – she fell more seriously, hitting her head so hard it cracked her helmet.

She says: ‘I got up but my brain was sluggish and I couldn’t think clearly. I was at the bottom of the slope and managed to get back to the hotel. But later that day, I went to the hospital. I felt drunk and I wasn’t walking that well.’

Harriet was shocked when she got to accident and emergency to be asked for her credit card details before staff would even look at her. She says: ‘I had to pay C$1,000 up front. If anything else had been needed I would have had to pay more.’

Although her blood pressure was checked and a general assessment given before she got the all-clear, Harriet did not receive any other treatment.

And she nearly did not get her claim paid on her return, as her insurer told her she should have phoned them first if the treatment was going to be more than £500. Her father intervened and it paid up.

Harriet, who has trips planned to Austria and France this ski season, says: ‘I recommend everyone keeps a copy of their insurance policy on their mobile phone so they have easy access to it if an accident happens.’