NEWS


Insurers urged to offer cover for cancellation


Lee Hayhurst


A lack of travel insurance cover for cancellation is casting doubt over travel firms’ ability to seize on early signs of a recovery in demand as the Covid-19 pandemic recedes. Providers including Holiday


Extras, Staysure, Saga and Just Travel Cover have begun offering Covid-19 policies that cover travellers if they fall ill while overseas. However, there are currently no


polices covering people who need to cancel before they depart if they fall


ill or must self-isolate as part of the UK’s track-and-trace system. Alan Bowen, legal adviser to the


Association of Atol Companies, said: “There is a real issue about the ability to cancel. Insurers are starting to move very slowly. They need to go a little faster and a little further to satisfy all the market, but particularly the more senior market.” Debbie Marshall, managing


director of Silver Travel Adviser, said insurance cover was “a big concern for older people”, for whom it provided reassurance to book.


Alan Bowen: ‘There is a real issue about the ability to cancel’


“The last thing they want is to


travel and find themselves ill overseas needing hospital treatment and not being covered for it,” she said. “They want reassurance because


there is that fear factor, however small. “No matter how determined you


are to get out and travel, if you can’t find the right policy that might be the last stumbling block.” Alistair Rowland, Midcounties


Co-op chief retail officer for specialist business and Abta chairman, appreciated the challenge insurers have assessing risk amid quarantine


and track-and-trace policies. But he added: “Practically,


offering cover while on holiday is not much use, particularly while people are booking now for this winter and summer 2021. “Very few customers are going to


buy a full policy if it hasn’t got some form of cancellation cover.” Bowen urged insurers to look at


introducing US-style policies that allow cancellation for any reason. He said these had been tried in the UK in the past but had failed due to expensive premiums.


CAA confirms RCNs are protected Ian Taylor


The CAA has confirmed refund credit notes for cancelled Atol bookings are financially protected under Atol. The confirmation came in


response to a Which? report on Saturday suggesting the CAA is asking consumers with refund credit notes (RCNs) for Atol-protected Shearings bookings to obtain “lengthy and complicated authorisation, without any guarantee” of payment. Which? urged consumers to reject


RCNs despite confirming: “Shearings customers with outstanding RCNs have been sent an Atol claim form for an ‘outstanding refund’.”


travelweekly.co.uk However, the CAA told Which?:


“Consumers that have been promised but have not yet received a refund for a cancelled Atol-protected booking are able to submit a claim . . . This is one of the ways the Atol scheme helps to protect consumers.” Which?’s claim that customers


with RCNs “may have to pay for a signature from a solicitor before they can secure a cash refund”, with “fees costing up to £120”, was rejected by the regulator and dismissed by senior industry figures. The CAA said: “When processing


this kind of claim, to prevent fraud . . . we may ask consumers to sign a declaration form, witnessed by a solicitor. In the case of Shearings


Consumers yet


to receive a refund for a cancelled Atol- protected booking are able to submit a claim


Holidays, it’s unlikely we will require this declaration from the vast majority of consumers.” This is in line with Air Travel


Trust payment policy where a record of a payment is lacking. A senior industry source said:


“The clause has always been there. It applies where cash receipts are missing or if you can’t find a payment


in the records. [But] the CAA response is confirmation [RCNs are protected]. The hope now is they come out with a fuller position.” Alan Bowen, advisor to the


Association of Atol Companies, said: “Where a claim is made and the customer claims to have paid by cash, usually where the amount is substantial and there is a lack of evidence, the customer is asked to swear a Statutory Declaration. It has nothing to do with refund credit notes. A trip to the local county court will allow the customer to get the document sworn free of charge.” Shearings failed with the collapse of


Specialist Leisure Group on May 22. i MPs back RCNs, page 30


18 JUNE 2020 7


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