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The recent volcano crisis has taught me one thing above all else; never consider buying cheap travel insurance – and when you DO buy a policy check out word by word their exclusion clauses. That is something I doubt the majority of those stranded travellers did. One fellow stuck in Florida with his family was complaining to a local radio station – via his mobile – that his el cheapo policy with Insure and Go (which is underwritten by the Halifax Bank…enough said ) gave him little to no protection or assistance whatsoever for the problems he was experiencing. Of course it wouldn’t – the reason it was cheap was because it gave you next to nothing but you need to know this BEFORE you travel to somewhere like the USA.

As travellers begin to arrive back the UK from all around the globe the compensation claims are ready to start flowing in, there will be some justified claims of course but for those people who paid a mere £10 for a ticket with a budget airline like Ryanair their hopes for being compensated hundreds, if not thousands, of pounds will be simply that – hopes. Ryanair is refusing to refund a penny. An airline that carries passengers paying less than a hundred pounds a ticket is not going to be able to afford huge across the board payouts, if the airline is forced by European regulations there is a good chance you will be waving bon voyage to your favourite way to get to the Spanish Costa’s.

I feel sorry for those people; they went on holiday and ended up in a nightmare spending money they did not have, sleeping in airports with small children, paying thousands to greedy car rental companies to get themselves to ferry ports across France and Spain, but honestly what do these people expect…? they would have been flying on tickets that cost anywhere from £10 to £40 and yet they expect hundreds if not thousands to be refunded to them for their troubles. Do you want budget air travel to continue or not ?…go ahead and sue for what you think you are entitled to but you can then kiss goodbye to your el cheapo trips to Tenerife and Salou because the airlines will simply close up shop.

The same goes for those who bought bottom end of the market travel insurance from companies like ‘Insure and Go’ for next to nothing and then complained about the poor service and exclusion clauses…what do you expect when you pay peanuts? how many people actually check their exclusion clauses before travelling – not many obviously but I bet they will in the future.

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You have to feel sorry for all those travellers who have seen their trips brought to a halt by the eruption of the volcano in Iceland; fair enough, planes  do not fare well when they fly through thick clouds of ash so of course they have to be grounded. But it is inconvenient and annoying all the same. You do have rights as a traveller when thing go wrong.

Cancelled Flight, stuck at the airport:

You are entitled to claim meals and refreshments at the airport from the airline as well as two free phonecalls or emails and a hotel room if you have to wait overnight for another flight. But the airline does not have to pay for other lost parts of your holiday such as hotel or car hire. If you decide not to fly, under EU regulations, you are entitled to a full refund from the airline within seven days. However, these regulations only cover flights to or from an airport in the EU or with an EU airline.

Missed connecting flight:

If your flight is late or cancelled, resulting in you missing a connecting flight, the airline responsible must make sure you get on the next available connecting flight. If you arrive on time for your connecting flight, but it is cancelled, you can decide not to continue with your journey. In this case, that airline should repay the total price of your tickets and provide a free flight back to your original departure point.

Delayed Flight…?

You have the right to be reimbursed the cost of your ticket if the delay is more than five hours and you decide not to travel. But you will not be reimbursed for any other elements of your trip you have lost as a result.

Bumped off your flight…?

If an airline does not have space for you on the flight, you must be compensated. Provided you are at an EU airport or an EU airline is involved, and you have your ticket, confirmed reservation and have checked in by deadline, you are entitled to a refund or another flight. The airline must also pay compensation based on the length of the flight and how late you will be. The minimum amount is £114 for flights up to 930 miles and up to two hours late. The maximum is £545 for more than 2,170 miles and more than four hours late. Meals, phone calls and overnight accommodation must be offered.

The travel company/airline has gone bust and I’m ready to leave!

If you booked a package with an ATOL-bonded tour operator, you must be reimbursed for your holiday ‘ flight, hotel and transport costs. But if you booked your flight through the operator, you are not covered, even though it was bonded. However, don’t expect ATOL to repay you quickly if a big company failed.

Getting your money back:

If you paid by credit card, the company must repay you the total cost of your lost holiday ‘ even if you only paid the deposit with it ‘ provided it cost more than £100 and less than £30,000. With family holidays it is the total price of the seats, not each individual one that counts. So if you book four seats for your family at £50 each (total £200), you are covered. Tell them you are claiming under Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act. And if it costs more to buy another similar holiday, you can claim that back, too. If you paid by Visa debit card, you can ask it to repay you under the charge-back rules. But you will get only the amount paid with the card, and it’s not a legal right. You must claim within 120 days.

The 20million customers of First Direct, HSBC, NatWest and Royal Bank of Scotland that issue Maestro debit cards do not have charge-back rights. Some travel policies will cover you.

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Billions of pounds are sitting unclaimed in old accounts, share certificates and out-of-date bank notes. But just because the company is no longer around, or the notes are out of circulation, it doesn’t mean they’re worthless.

One of the most common practices is hunting down an insurance policy issued by a company that seems to have vanished. Many of these are so-called ‘penny policies’ taken out years ago with an insurer or a friendly society for a small monthly premium, often collected door-to-door. Insurers stopped collecting premiums on these years ago because of the cost, but they still have a value. Don’t expect more than a few pounds, though…if you locate your policy that is.

Many old insurance policies were issued by friendly societies, often with a name reflecting the occupation or beliefs of the people the policies were sold to. At the end of World War II, there were more than 1,000 of these member-owned institutions: today, there are just 40. Both the FSA and Policy Detective should carry details, or try the Association of Financial Mutuals. For example, the Domestic Servants Insurance Society now comes under Reliance Mutual.

Shares Certificates: First, check if the company is still trading under the name on your shares – a look at the share price page in newspapers should help with bigger companies.If you can’t find the company, then it might have been renamed, taken over or disappeared. Companies House can help and has drop-in centres in London, edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast. If you haven’t received any communication from the company for a while, you may need to update your details with its registrar. You can find this out from the London Stock exchange website if you select the Tools & Services option and then company profile.

If you think you own shares in a company ( i.e. an electronics company) but have lost the certificate, then you need to find out who the registrar is. Be prepared to pay for a replacement certificate.

The Premium Bond prize draw has been taking place for 53 years and prizes are always claimable, regardless of time. The oldest unclaimed Premium Bond prize – £25 in today’s money – dates back to the November 1957 draw. There is more than £30 million in unclaimed prize money: there are two prizes for £100,000 dating back to the same draw in Febuary 2007. One is on a £25 bond bought by a lady with a last known address in Outer London, number is 8LK522839; the other is also held by a lady, last known address in Australia, with just a £ 6 holding ( number 5eT395766). Premium bonds can always be cashed in at their face value: you can get a repayment form from a post office or from its website.

Now go get your detectives hat on and find those missing pounds!

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