UK Travel Insurance News

Wednesday, May 03, 2006

 

Travel insurance policies without terrorism exclusion

The BBC's Real Story broadcast on 13/03/06, dealt with the subject of British travellers caught up in terrorist attacks abroad.

More than 40 British holidaymakers have been killed in terrorist attacks around the world since 9/11, with many more receiving serious injuries*.

But while acts of terrorism are unfortunately continuing to occur in popular tourist destinations, the programme showed that there has been seemingly little movement by the British Government since 9/11 to provide financial support to those that have fallen victim to these atrocities, or for the bereaved families of those killed.

The reason - the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority only compensates victims' hurt in the UK.

The result - many have been left to fend for themselves or are reliant on the generosity of others to help them heal their lives.

Travel insurance providers have also been criticised because of the lack of clarity on what they will and won't cover in regard to travellers caught up in terrorist acts because of policy exclusions.

However, travel insurance specialist InsureandGo took the step last November to amend its policies and remove the terrorism exclusion from the sections of its policy where it previously applied.

Up until November, for InsureandGo policyholders caught up in terrorist acts the company covered medical expenses and provided emergency assistance. But it did exclude cover in other areas such as for personal possessions, travel delay or cancellation.

Now instead of looking at the these claims on a case by case basis, those directly affected by an act of terrorism have further protection when they are travelling too, or holidaying in, countries deemed safe by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO).

Perry Wilson, director of InsureandGo, said: ?Unfortunately over the last few years we have sadly seen increasing numbers of attacks occurring in popular holiday destinations such as Egypt, Bali, Turkey and Spain. And of course in our own capital last July.

?As a specialist we are constantly analysing the market to ensure that our policies really are meeting the needs of travellers today. As such we felt that we had no choice than to remove the terrorism exclusion to enable us to really protect our policyholders further.?

The change was also made with no increase to policy prices.

Perry continues: ?When you compare the number of trips taken each year the likelihood of being caught up in a terrorist attack is thankfully minimal. However, we're advising travellers to check their policies to see that if it ever did happen to them, what would they really be covered for.?

posted by UK Insurance Index  @ 8:53 PM

News items are intended for information only and should not be relied upon when making insurance decisions. Due to their nature some of the information in these news stories may no longer be current.