Grandad, 65, stranded in Croatia with ‘life changing injuries’ due to travel insurance blunder: ‘Deteriorating by the day’

A grandad has blamed a ‘silly insurance mistake’ for leaving him stranded in Croatia with life-changing injuries after suffering a horror fall during a coastal walk.

When Brian Ackroyd, 65, from Leyland, Lancashire and his close friend Deborah Wright, 61, went on their annual trip to the historical city of Dubrovnik, they only expected to be there for seven days. 

However, on October 26, Mr Ackroyd ‘lost his footing’ on ‘uneven ground’ and fell backwards, getting his head stuck between two rocks, fracturing his neck and skull, and leaving him with several bleeds on the brain.  

Three weeks later, Mr Ackroyd remains in hospital, effectively trapped in Croatia because Admiral insurance has refused to cover the cost of the £40,000 air ambulance he needs to return home to the UK because he hadn’t disclosed that he has type 2 diabetes or that he’d been referred for a colonoscopy.

Speaking on behalf of her friend, Ms Wright said that Mr Ackroyd is in a neurology ward, and desperate to fly home.

Furthermore, she claims that she cannot move his hands due to nerve damage and is ‘desperate’ to return to the UK for intensive treatment. 

She said: ‘I want Brian home more than anything and it’s imperative to his long-term prognosis. He is just stranded in Croatia. 

‘The problem is we’ve got now is Brian is deteriorating daily, because the hospital can’t provide the care he needs.

‘He needs intensive physio care, and they don’t do that at the hospital. He should be having physio all day every day as well as his medical needs seen to.

‘When I met with the neurosurgeon this week, he told me that it’s not in Brian’s best interest to still be at that hospital.’

Recalling the incident Ms Wright, a school safeguarding leader who lives in Chorley Lancashire, said: ‘The actual fall is something that I will never forget, the noise and the way that he fell with such a force. It was so traumatic.

‘There’s a pedestrianised walkway and it’s beautiful and goes all the way around the headlands and the views are amazing. We’ve been on this walk so many times over the years and done exactly the same things that we did.

‘He went down the steps and as he came down, we didn’t realise it at the time, what looked like a tree root had made the ground uneven. He lost his footing on that and fell backward and got his head stuck in between two big rocks.

‘I just screamed for help and luckily there were people doing the same walk as us and they all came running to help because Brian stopped breathing. We had to fight to get him out.’

Ms Wright is urging others to fill out their travel insurance and declare anything even if it hasn’t been before, she claims not declaring them had ‘nothing to do with his fall’.  

She says she feels let down by Admiral for telling them ‘everything was fine’ and ‘the insurance was covering everything’ only to be told ‘at the 12th hour’ that ‘it was not honouring the claim’.

Mr Ackroyd had been battling prostate cancer since 2023 but is currently in remission. It was his type 2 diabetes and a referral for a colonoscopy that hadn’t been declared.

His friend called it a ‘silly mistake’ and emphasised that while she was ‘not aware of where his head was at that point’, the colonoscopy hasn’t happened yet.

She added: ‘The type 2 diabetes wasn’t an issue’ and that Admiral knew that it hadn’t been declared and ‘carried on saying it was okay’ until underwriters said ‘no’. 

‘I would have liked them to have offered a percentage of the claim if they couldn’t offer it at all,’ she said.

Since the company has offered to cover £5,000 as a goodwill gesture, which they have refused.

‘To say “no” when they know how vulnerable and seriously ill Brian is. They know he can only come home via air ambulance because of his injuries,’ added Ms Wright.

‘It’s not like he’s just broken his leg or he was full of alcohol. He was a 65-year-old man after three cups of coffee and breakfast just going on a stroll on holiday. 

‘He wasn’t doing anything foolish, and it was just an accident.’

The grandmother hopes a GoFundMe page, which has raised more than £8,749, will help Brian as he is ‘desperate’ to return home.

She added: ‘The GoFundMe has literally blown me away with how kind people are. I’ve told Brian how much people are trying for him and that’s given him hope because he’s just so desperate to be back in the UK.

‘The fact we’ve had to leave Brian in such a vulnerable position in a foreign country is just horrendous.

‘I just want to highlight to other people that think they’ve got their holiday insurance done, if you’re under any investigations or anything, whether you’ve had it done or not, you must put that down or you won’t be covered by your insurance.’

An Admiral spokesperson said they are ‘really sorry’ to hear about Mr Ackroyd’s injuries and that they have offered an ‘ex-gratia payment as a gesture of goodwill’.

They added: ‘We are aware Mr Ackroyd is currently receiving ongoing care and treatment at a public hospital. 

‘We are in contact with them and will continue to monitor his situation.

‘We never take the decision to refuse a claim lightly, we understand how stressful and costly this can be.’

They added that when anyone takes out travel insurance with them, they ask them to declare all medical conditions.

This includes any ‘ongoing treatment or prescriptions, any ongoing investigations into their health or if they’re waiting for a diagnosis’, they said.

‘If a customer provides this information, we can provide the right level of cover.’