Stag/Hen


stag

STAGS AND HENS

If you're planning to make your final fling a trip abroad, take extra care, stag and hens are warned

IT used to be one night in a pub with a group of mates, but now stag and hen dos are a booming multi-million pound industry. Blackpool is out and Barcelona is in, thanks to the new age of no-frills flights.

Britons spent £430 million last year on trips abroad to mark the last days of single life, according to Egg online bank. But the price is much higher than the £551 each person is estimated to spend on the trip.

While celebrating, one in five partygoers will lose valuables, 10 per cent will have items stolen, 17 percent will need medical attention after sports or drunken accidents, and 4 per cent are likely to be arrested, a survey of 2,033 adults revealed.

Men appear to be the most accident-prone, with four times as many stags losing personal items as hens, and twice as many being victims of theft. Men also visit the hospital more than women, and while only 1 per cent of hens suffer injuries on a weekend away, 14 per cent of stags find themselves nursing broken bones and bruises.

Barcelona in Spain, Prague in the Czech Republic, Dublin, and Tallinn in Estonia are among the top choices. Amsterdam, Paris and the Greek Islands are other favourites. Budget airlines have sent the number of foreign stag and hen weekends "through the roof", according to Sean Tipton of the Association of British Travel Agents.

Lured by the promise of cheap booze and having a laugh with your pals, the people most likely to go are youngsters, including some without travel insurance. Mr Tipton says this may be "a bit of a lethal combination", particularly as your insurance will not pay up if you are drunk and have an accident.

He said: "If you can get a ticket for £30 to a place where a litre of lager can cost 60p or 70p, many people will go, and it can be a bit of a lethal combination. "If you live in London it is easier for you to fly out to an Eastern European country than to travel to Brighton."

Britons abroad on a long boozy stag weekend have become the scourge of many a city-break destination. And now MPs say the Government should not be picking up the tab for high jinks. Consular staff have the power to charge £84.50 an hour for helping Brits abroad, but only use it rarely, according to the Public Accounts Committee.

Committee chairman Tory MP Edward Leigh said: "Where our nationals have landed themselves in trouble as a result of their own irresponsibility, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office should not hesitate to charge them for its services."

Mr Tipton said that consular staff are already strict about how much help they offer British holidaymakers abroad. He said: "They make it clear that it is not their remit to help British citizens out financially when they are abroad, except in exceptional circumstances."

Stag groups are losing so many passports on weekend jaunts in Europe that the FCO issued travel advice warning them to take photocopies of documents before travelling.

The big problem is people losing passports when they are drunk. Lots of people also have accidents or lose their credit cards and are left with no cash.

People were also urged to be aware of pickpockets, muggers and bag snatchers, who prey on stag groups in cities, particularly Barcelona and Madrid.