Badly-beaten British student in Australia gets huge bill

A gap-year student from the UK who was badly beaten by a gang in Australia, has been billed £650.

Travel Insurance News - 11/08/2011

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A student from the UK who was spending his gap year in Australia, has been hit with a £650 bill for a two-minute ride to hospital in an ambulance. The student ended up in hospital for treatment after a gang of thugs punched and kicked him on Royal Wedding night.

Nineteen-year-old Angus Paskin Orr and a friend set upon by a gang of eight men in Cairns, Queensland. An ambulance picked him up and drove him 200 yards to the Cairns Base hospital.

Orr was given a CT scan and X-rays at the hospital. Because Orr isn’t a permanent resident of the eastern state of Queensland, he has received a bill for the treatment. His family are shocked that he has been billed for the ambulance service, even though he has been the victim of an unprovoked and horrific attack.

There is a reciprocal medical agreement in place between the rest of Australia and the UK. Unfortunately, the agreement doesn’t cover the cost of transportation or treatment provided by the Queensland ambulance service.

To make matter worse, the local police appear to be not interested in doing anything to track down the gang responsible for the vicious attack. A 16-year-old female was also recently the victim of an assault by thugs in the same town.

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