Rescued English hiker faces €14,000 bill after ignoring trail closures in Italian Dolomites
https://www.independent.ie/world-news/europe/rescued-english-hiker-faces-14000-bill-after-ignoring-trail-closures-in-italian-dolomites/a1879482222.html
by PoppedCork
31 comments
This should be the case across Europe
Great. Make it a round 20k.
Sounds reasonable. You broke the rules and caused the expense, so you pay for it.
Excellent but should apply to Europeans also. Stupidity should have a cost.
>He was eventually brought to safety with no injuries but is now being asked to pay €14,000 to the regional health service for the helicopter rescue because he is British.
>The rescue bill for an Italian or French climber might be a few hundred euro.
>“If someone calls because they are tired or stuck because they find themselves in a place where they shouldn’t be, or if they are unharmed with no health issue, they have to pay,” a national rescue service spokesman said. “If you are from outside the EU without insurance, you have to pay more.”
That´s pretty cheap👍
A researcher had to be rescued in the deepest cave in Germany in 2014. It cost 1.000.000 Euro to rescue him. He had to pay a significant amount (exact amount undisclosed).
Meh, sounds reasonable. Play stupid games, win stupid prizes.
If insured, should be fine. Oh, it’s a fine, not a rescue fee. Lols.
Rescue is for emergency. It’s the right thing to pay for stupidity
I appreciate when people are fined who treat our alps as some kind of all inclusive entertainment park.
I don’t really trust the article. I call BS on the „he’d have to pay less if GB was still in the EU“.
Many health insurers inside the EU wouldn’t cover the helicopter costs either, since no one was injured and this was rather a recovery than a rescue. Wether you have additional insurance which cover this kind of costs isn’t really depending on where you’re from.
To be honest that sounds pretty reasonable. For mountain sports I use insurance with €25k coverage for rescue, so if the hiker had a similar policy, they should be fine.
Good
It is a good thing Scotland doesn’t charge to reacue EU tourists from the mountains after they underestimate the weather.
This is the – no – way
Typical English lad. Loud on vacation, cannot read, getting into problems but can´t solve it by himself. Glad that they live on island.
Alpine rescue due to one’s gross negligence is fucking expensive and rightly so, operators and pilots put themselves in danger to rescue some moron that can’t read a sign
Hey, does that mean when European round the world sailors get in trouble thousands of kilometres away from Australia and we have to spend millions of Euros to rescue them, we can be paid for that?
Because that would be awesome. We’ve been footing the bill up till now.
He’ll probably just not pay and be fine, unfortunately. Hopefully he’s a rich tourist that doesn’t mind paying for having been rescued.
I’m 40% dolomite!
Good. FAFO.
So sick of Main Character syndrome.
Rightly so.
Money quote:
> He was lucky to survive, emergency services said, but not lucky enough to get off with a smaller fine, which he would have done if this had happened before Britain’s exit from the European Union.
Brexit means Brexit.
As someone who has climbed in the Alps for years, it’s very normal to have mountain rescue insurance that covers you for impromptu helicopter trips and the like. Skiers do the same with a basic ‘Cart Neige’. Not sure though if you would still be covered if you ignored a load of signes though. That’s just silly behaviour
We do the same when tourists drift out to sea on their damn inflatable pool toys here in Denmark. Although we only charge ~€8000 for a trip in a rescue chopper.
That’s stupid they tell you to go touch grass but fine you at every step
That’s fair enough though?
Fair enough.
Good
Well done
In Croatia, as far as I know, the mountain rescue service is free and (for the most part) staffed by volunteers. The helicopter is provided by a public organization (the military? civil service?).
We’ve had this debate multiple times. I still feel like the current model – where the rescue service is completely free – is better. Why? Because we’re talking about human lives. Even now, the rescue service does not manage to save everyone. Forcing the unfortunate hiker to decide between calling for a rescue and risking a fine or a bill and not calling it and potentially dyeing is below the standard of a European country.
You can argue that all hikers need to have some kind of insurance, or that frivolous calls should be fined but a person in danger should never be forced to make the call based on financial reasons.
Could have been a member of an alpine association and they would have paid the bill for him.
He didn’t become an Alpine Association member, which is recommended everywhere, then decided to ignore advice about a trail closure.
0 sympathy.
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