British gap year students should make simple preparations

Students planning their gap year abroad have been told that they need to make some simple preparations in order to prevent coming across problems.

Jeremy Browne, Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) minister, was commenting on a report which highlights British behaviour abroad.

It flagged up that between April 2009 and March 2010, 944 Brits were arrested for drug offences, while there were also high figures recorded for hospitalisation and lost passports.

"This report shines a light on the number of Britons who get into difficulty abroad each year. The worrying fact is that so many of these situations are preventable," he said, adding that helping out Britons in trouble abroad is part of the FCO's job, but it cannot get gap year students out of jail or pay their hospital bills.

Gap year students can get a raft of information from the FCO website, including details on individual countries and any dangers which might be present.

Click here for gap year advice.

( Last Updated: 2010-07-20 16:08:30)