Parlez Vous Français?

What do you do if you are on holiday or travelling the world and you lose your bag, mobile phone, and passport? Or worse, you have an accident? Do you speak the local language to ask for help?

John, of Wargrave discovered how much he owed to the new 24hour emergency service 08000HelpMe whilst on a 3,500 mile marathon motorcycle trip across Morocco to the Sahara. It ended in a broken wrist, multiple fractures to the other arm, one badly damaged motorbike and one stolen mobile phone. Not an ideal situation when his motorcycle companions were not fluent in French or Arabic.

Although most British travellers are, thankfully, not as unfortunate as John,1 in 10 do still experience the traumatising theft or loss of their personal belongings when abroad. 08000HelpMe is a new 24 hour ‘one call sorts it all’ emergency service that deals with the aftermath. With one simple call they can help you replace your passport, book flights, arrange transport to get you home as soon as possible and they have interpreters on hand to help with any communication difficulties you may be experiencing. If you need medical advice or assistance 08000HelpMe can put you in touch with a local English speaking doctor or hospital and they can even arrange a lawyer if you need one.

Furthermore, they cancel all credit and debit cards and arrange replacements, contact your mobile phone operator to prevent anyone running up a bill on your behalf and call friends and family to let them know what’s happened. This is a huge comfort to those anxious parents who have children travelling to know that someone is on hand, 24 hours a day, to help if they find themselves stuck with no money or passage home.

James Carpenter, creator of 08000HelpMe, says “Nobody wants their experience ruined by the loss or theft of belongings, but with our unique service we hope to minimize stress as much as possible so our members can get on with enjoying themselves.

Carpenter continues “At 08000HelpMe we will help our members take control of the situation and overcome the initial feeling of helplessness and frustration when they realise that key personal belongings have been stolen or are missing, just one call and we will sort everything.”

08000HelpMe is a personal emergency service not an insurance company, travel insurance should always be purchased before travelling abroad.

Membership of 08000HelpMe costs £29.95 a year, for more details visit 08000helpme.com.