They are loyal customers of Travel Insurance 4 Medical, and duly submitted a claim for their losses. But the Irish company that underwrites their policy, White Horse Insurance, told them: “Cancellation or curtailment cover applies only where a trip is cancelled or curtailed for one of the reasons specifically listed within the policy.” These include jury service, redundancy or serious illness of a close relative. However, the consequences of passport theft are not covered.
The one element of the travel disaster that was covered was replacing the passports. The couple spent £204 on the new documents. But that shrank to just £7. First there was a “policy excess”. Each of them had to bear the first £95 of the loss. In addition, the insurer applies a “deduction for age and use”. Sarah Johnson’s passport was two years old when it was stolen. The insurer assessed its value at £81.60 – less than the excess of £95. The Rev Johnson, whose passport was brand new, was awarded the princely sum of £7.
The Rev Johnson told me: “It has taken us, as a family, over three years to save up for this holiday which would have included celebrating my wife and my wedding anniversary in the town where I proposed to her.
“I’m a self-supporting minister – unpaid – so get no stipend or money from the church. My daughter and grandson’s holiday has had a shadow cast over it as we were looking forward to spending quality time together. My wife is a wheelchair user and my grandson is also disabled, and so travelling together offers support to the whole family.”
‘No option’
Leah Ward, chief operating officer and head of claims at White Horse Insurance Ireland, said: “We do appreciate that having documents stolen while travelling is a very stressful and difficult situation for any customer to find themselves in. However, we can confirm that similar to many products across the market, the loss or theft of travel documents resulting in the cancellation or curtailment of a trip is not a covered event under our Travel Insurance 4 Medical policies.
“This is also called out as specifically excluded under the Cancellation and Curtailment section of the policy, in which it states that claims arising from ‘losing or not having the correct documents (passport, visa, inoculation certificates, travel tickets and so on) that you need to travel’ are not covered.”
Legally, the couple have no option but to accept the loss. But this looks to me like a gap that insurers could fill.
Tim Riley, chair of the UK Travel Insurance Association, said: “Travel insurance, like other forms of insurance, cannot cover every circumstance in which travel plans go wrong. Policies insure defined risks, and those risks vary between providers and products.
“That said, I can readily understand why a customer whose passport is stolen through no fault of their own while travelling to their international departure point would expect their travel insurance to provide meaningful assistance. Where substantial unrecoverable holiday costs result in only a very small payment, it is entirely understandable that customers will question whether the cover meets their reasonable expectations.”
He has promised to raise the case at the trade group’s next meeting, to “consider whether there is scope for greater consistency, clarity or improved cover across the market”.
Meanwhile, if you find yourself at London Euston – or any transport hub – with valuables, keep an eagle eye open and be aware of how the villains work: typically by one person blocking your path while the other steals from your backpack. Wearing that backpack on your front feels awkward – but could save your holiday.
