Drunken Holiday Makers Should Foot The Bill For Consulate Care

With the rise of cheap flights there has been a massive increase in the number of people travelling from the UK to European cities for weekend breaks. Stag and hen dos are a fashionable reason for travelling and can make the experience of your last ‘fling’ as a singleton extra special. Places such as Barcelona, Prague and Bratislava are among the most popular.

Unfortunately some find it difficult to stop celebrating and often end up drinking too much and becoming incapacitated. One place people turn to when this happens is the consulate. This can cause problems as it is not really their place to deal with drunks.

Now it seems there may be a way to put off this sort of behaviour. Stag nighters who turn up at UK embassies "drunk, lost and incoherent" should be billed for the trouble they cause suggests a Foreign Office report.

There has also been a corresponding increase in the number of Britons turning up at embassies at night extremely drunk having lost their friends, money, passport or hotel.

The Commons public accounts committee has now recommended that what one MP described as "drunken halfwits" should be charged £84 an hour for care and assistance.

"Where our nationals have landed themselves in trouble as a result of their own irresponsibility, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office should not hesitate to charge them for its services," said a committee chair.

In many cases embassy staff have had to call around most of the hotels in town before locating the right one, and on one memorable occasion had to bail out a UK citizen caught roaming Prague airport hangars looking for the next flight home.

Even for short city breaks - especially when accompanied by bad behaviour - travel insurance can be essential. Make sure you read the small print and find the policy which fits your individual circumstances. You may not be covered if the trouble you are in has been caused by your own excesses.

If you would like to know more about travel insurance why not ask AnswerBank Insurance.