Essex agent on road to recovery after Thailand crash
A travel agent who was seriously injured in a crash while on holiday in Thailand is on the road to recovery after a successful operation on her spine.
Abbie Sontag, 28, who works for Kenwood Travel in Harlow, was just a few days into a holiday with her partner Pete Brudenell, who also works for the agency as head of marketing.
The couple were travelling from Phuket to Khao Lak when their taxi was hit by a lorry, leaving them both hospitalised.
Abbie, who suffered three broken ribs, a ruptured spleen and bowel, a break in her spine, and other injuries, wrongly believed that her bank travel insurance would cover the medical bill.
Her family set up a GoFundMe page to help pay for her treatment and it has already reached nearly £45,000, some of it from colleagues in the travel industry.
Her sister Ellis posted on the fundraising page that Pete has been discharged and said today Abbie has taken her first steps since the accident, with the help of a walking frame.
She said the appeal had raised enough to cover all medical bills.
"Abbie and Pete thank you from the bottom of their hearts, not only for the financial help but all the emotional support and amazing messages they have received. It has truly helped with their recovery," she said.
Figures released by ABTA earlier this month showed~more than one in five people travelled completely uninsured~in the last 12 months and another 27% travelled without being properly covered. Many believed they were fully covered by their bank travel insurance, but were not.
Bev
Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.
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