A circle of relatives whose planned summer season vacation to Sri Lanka would need to be canceled disbelief after their travel insurer refused to cover their losses but instructed them to be uninsured if they went beforehand.
Sam Williams says his annual journey policy with Ecclesiastical grew to become out to be nugatory after it emerged. It would now not cowl the cancellation of his journey in the wake of the Foreign Office advising tourists not to tour Sri Lanka. It will value the own family approximately £2,000 in canceled flight and villa payments, he says.
In February, Williams began reserving flights and lodging for him, his wife, and their two-year-old daughter for three weeks at the island in July. He says he booked the accommodation’s closing just two weeks before terrorists killed more than 250 human beings on Easter Sunday.
Like many others who had booked unbiased journeys, the idea cancellation turned into sure while, remaining month, the Foreign Office advised in opposition to all but essential tour to Sri Lanka. The fallout from the assaults continues: this week, the Guardian suggested that the Sri Lankan authorities had imposed a curfew after mob assaults on mosques and Muslim-owned stores.
At the time of the Foreign Office announcement, the Association of British Insurers warned that travel insurance could not cover all of us disobeying the recommendation and said maximum policies could cover losses for those compelled to cancel. But when Williams asked Ecclesiastical how he must claim, he changed into instructed that such cancellation cowl became not offered as part of his annual coverage.
“It’s ridiculous,” says Williams, who lives in London. “It gained’t cover the cancellation, however, has stated that if we retain with the ride, we received’t be insured because the Foreign Office has suggested us now not to head. It seems it wishes each approach. The corporation cautioned me to touch my package tour operator. However, we’ve got booked all of it ourselves. It stated it is getting quite a variety of calls approximately this. Isn’t this why we’re informed to buy journey insurance in the first place?”
Ecclesiastical, founded in 1887 to shield church buildings from the danger of fire, showed its rules made no longer cowl cancellations because of Foreign Office recommendation. The following Guardian Money’s intervention has agreed to cover the Williams’ losses, minus the £one hundred extra, as a gesture of goodwill.
“We have reviewed Mr. Williams’ grievance and, because of the particular instances of this particular case, we have determined to pay the declare to cover his tour costs,” says a spokesman. “We apprehend this has been a worrying time for Mr. Williams, and we want to do the right factor for him.”
