Going on holiday? Don’t get misled as you prepare to go abroad

Flights booked, passports up to date, travel money and health insurance sorted….?

If you’re making last minute arrangements before you fly, Hampshire County Council Trading Standards Team is advising holidaymakers to guard against misleading money-making schemes that could give you a headache before you even reach your destination.

In the last two months, Trading Standards have received a number of complaints from holidaymakers who have handed over cash to websites with official-looking domain names, that have in fact charged for a European Health Insurance Card (EHIC). Formerly known as an E111 card, the European Health Insurance Cards are free from the NHS and entitle UK holidaymakers to free or cheap health care in the EU.

Some websites however, particularly those that may be based overseas, are still charging around £10 for processing applications that you can do yourself for free through the NHS. Although this is not necessarily illegal, lots of people claim to have been misled into handing over money for what they thought was an official service and sites often fail to mention that they are not official providers of EHICs. Traders are however required to be clear about the product or service that they are offering and not dupe consumers into parting with money for services they do not want.

Last year the Office of Fair Trading closed down a number of sites that charged for EHICs. Three of the websites agreed to stop ‘deceptive selling practices’ and two others stopped trading.

The advice from Hampshire Trading Standards is therefore to be careful when searching for online solutions, as in this instance an EHIC is a free service via the NHS and associated Government sites.

People that are looking for Government-funded services such as an EHIC should therefore check carefully that they are using an official government website such as Directgov, the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO)  and NHS.

Further information about EHICs