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A 22 year old British tourist, Jenni Evans, got into a nasty (super nasty) motorbike accident on Koh Samui Island in Thailand, and her friends and family are trying to raise £100,000 to get her back to the UK safely and get treatment.

She says she has insurance (presumably TRAVEL insurance) and that they aren't paying for any medical treatment and won't pay a dime to evacuate her anywhere either.

£100,000 seems like a lot to ask for in this case, and her friends and family have avoided answering numerous questions about WHY the insurance company won't pay anything. The only reason I can think of is that if Jenni Evans was drunk/on drugs when she had this accident, travel insurance agencies typically have a clause stating the policy holder isn't covered if they're injured while committing a crime or while drunk, etc.

Jenni's friend, Jade Harvey, skipped GoFundMe and started a JustGiving campaign, already raising about £22,000 in a few days from over 1,000 supporters.

Here is what the JustGiving campaign says about what happened:

"*DISCLAIMER - contains distressing images* 

As many people may know, Jennifer Evans (age 22) was a passenger in a serious road traffic accident while travelling around Thailand. The insurance company will not pay for any medical treatment or to fly her home. We are desperate to get her home for the proper medical treatment to save her leg, especially as her injuries are very serious and potentially life changing. Can we ask you please to pull together and make any donation you can. Every penny raised will go towards her ever increasing medical bills and medical evacuation flight home. Let's please get her back to start the road to recovery. Thank you so much.

She has suffered with Crohns Disease since she was 13 years old and was supposed to return to the UK next week to continue with her treatment. She is not currently being treated for this in the hospital in Thailand. Her father has flown out to be with her and her family are going out of their minds with worry. 

Jennifer is now stranded in the government hospital on Koh Samui island, Thailand.

She is at serious risk of more infection; her wound is not getting any better and we desperately need to get her home quick."

EXTREMELY GRAPHIC IMAGES OF JENNIFER EVANS' LEG INJURY: More info from social media:















UPDATE: Her boyfriend, Joe Askham, who was riding the motorbike during the crash, also says he was in critical condition and the accident wasn't covered by the insurance company because the motorbike he crashed on was not properly insured.



Here are some images of Jennifer Evans and Joe Askham, both from Barnsley, backpacking barefoot across South East Asia over the last few months.







And this story has made its way to The Yorkshire Post:

"Yorkshire woman, 22, who 'could lose leg' after Thailand motorbike crash in race against time to raise £100,000

The family of a 22-year-old Yorkshire woman fear she may lose her leg unless £100,000 can be raised to fly her home after being involved in a motorbike accident in Thailand. Jenni Evans, from Sheffield Road, Barnsley, was a passenger on a motorbike when she was involved in a serious accident on Ko Pha Ngan island on Thursday, May 11. The Barnsley Council worker was on the holiday of a lifetime with her boyfriend Joe when the accident occurred, causing substantial damage to her right leg.

Due to a misunderstanding around what British driving licenses will allow you to do abroad, Jenni was not insured to be on the motorbike, though she was unaware of this at the time. It means her holiday insurance company are not willing to cover the costs of medical evacuation or treatment and she remains in hospital in Thailand."

I agree, £100,000 seems extremely steep...always pays to read the fine print on insurance policies, especially travel insurance!

And an update from Jennifer Evans herself:

Koh Pha Ngan or Koh Samui conflicting report

why do they need 100,000 to get her home? hiring a private jet

Jennifer is now stranded in the government hospital on Koh Samui island, Thailand.

Stranded??

1.she should have been moved asap to Surat Thani where they have an excellent hospital,only 2 hours away ( ferry is 90 minutes) not left at the hospital in Samui which is nothing but a glorified clinic


Sad news for sure but it happens all to often when tourists rent bikes in countries they are unfamiliar with the road laws and ways

I must be used to U.S. healthcare prices, 100,000 pounds doesn't seem that much to me for something like this.

AE86 wrote: ↑Tue May 23, 2017 5:35 pmI must be used to U.S. healthcare prices, 100,000 pounds doesn't seem that much to me for something like this.

I find the whole thing a little off, to be honest - they're deliberately dodging questions about insurance, and are trading on the cute-white-girl-in-distress element. A terrible injury, and good that others have put their hands in their pockets for her, but still doesn't sound right. She could have got that treated and rehabilitated in Thailand at a similar level of care for much less, and the claim about needing treatment for Chron's Disease just adds unnecessarily to the pathos.

We were peripherally involved in a case in Cambodia in which a young girl got some incorrect dental treatment and then lost most of her face to necrosis before sadly dying to infections. Similar amounts of money were raised from generous donors around the world, and there was a huge backlash of "what a waste of money" and "why is one life worth so much" - so different when it's a white western girl rather than a village Khmer girl.

General Mackevili wrote:
UPDATE: Her boyfriend, Joe Askham, who was riding the motorbike during the crash, also says he was in critical condition and the accident wasn't covered by the insurance company because the motorbike he crashed on was not properly insured.

More likely that they're not covered by insurance because they're not licensed to ride motorcycles and their insurance doesn't cover them for riding motorcycles.

Passengers generally only get coverage if they were riding pillion with a licensed rider, or someone unknown to them that they could reasonably assume would be licensed, like a moto taxi.

Seen someone in a far lesser situation after being pulled off a moto in a search and grab. Insurance asked for the license of the rider, a random motodop who was long gone minutes after the robbery. The insurer coughed up after a few days of back and forth, and handled everything including flights to BKK, top quality hotel and helper throughout in and outpatient treatment, and first class flights to UK as robbery and hospital stay had caused her to miss booked flights home.

Conflicting accounts in the post:

Drivers' licence issue (i.e. the boyfriend didn't have the appropriate licence to ride a moto); or
Moto not insured.

She was a passenger on the bike so it's not clear whether her claim has been rejected because the driver wasn't licenced or if it's because of the bike's insurance.

Medevac usually $30k-ish normally?

My Australian moto licence expires later this year. Even though you don't require one here in KOW to ride a <125cc bike, my insurance states I must have an AU one regardless, so I'll make sure I renew it.

EDIT: not sure they'll be able to save that leg.

timmydownawell wrote: ↑Tue May 23, 2017 5:55 pmMy Australian moto licence expires later this year. Even though you don't require one here in KOW to ride a <125cc bike, my insurance states I must have an AU one regardless, so I'll make sure I renew it.

You might want to check your insurance fine-print again, it might say you need a license that is valid in the country you're riding in or an international license (which is NOT recognised in Cambodia, there is NO reciprocity between Cambodia and the driving members associations that offer the international license) and it might say you're not covered unless driving lawfully on roads.

StroppyChops wrote: ↑Tue May 23, 2017 5:57 pm You might want to check your insurance fine-print again, it might say you need a license that is valid in the country you're riding in or an international license (which is NOT recognised in Cambodia, there is NO reciprocity between Cambodia and the driving members associations that offer the international license) and it might say you're not covered unless driving lawfully on roads.

The subject came up before so I did check it, it's quite clear I have to hold an Australian moto licence in order to ride one in another country regardless of that country's laws. I've been here a year and only used motodops so far, but one day I might buy my own so I need to keep my options open.