Underinsured and wasting time
In news that may not necessarily surprise all ITIJ readers, the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) has issued a warning to British travellers urging them to stop wasting the time of consular staff
The FCO accompanied the warning with a list of the 10 strangest enquiries that it had received over the past year, predominantly from British travellers or expatriates. These included a man asking for assistance obtaining illegal employment in Singapore, a man planning on moving to Spain who was concerned that he might encounter nudists walking in the streets, a homesick expatriate asking where he might find English bacon, and a mother asking for the contact details of a young British YouTube star, as her son was a fan of his videos.
“Our consular staff are a helpful bunch and do an amazing job helping out Brits in trouble around the world,” said FCO Minister James Duddridge, “but it is important that people remember they are there to help with genuine emergencies and not as an alternative to directory enquiries. Every minute they spend handling a call requesting advice on butlers or nudists is time taken away from dealing with life and death cases, so I urge the public to think before picking up the phone.”
Over the past 12 months, the FCO has replaced almost 40,000 lost travel documents, came to the aid of 4,770 Britons who had been arrested abroad, rendered assistance to the relatives of 3,670 Britons who had died while overseas, and helped 3,250 Britons who had needed to stay in hospital. The FCO’s Kelvin Green has urged Brits abroad to make life easier for themselves – and for the FCO – by ensuring that they have valid travel insurance coverage when they head abroad.
The FCO has also recently joined forces with comparison site Gocompare in an attempt to raise awareness of the importance of adequate travel insurance coverage, with a specific focus on the need for cancellation coverage. The Association of British Insurers recently released figures stating that 34 per cent of claims made by British holidaymakers are for cancellation costs, with the average cost of a claim sitting at around £700. An analysis of insurance purchases made via the website Gocompare.com in 2015, meanwhile, showed that 56 per cent of purchasers arranged their cover within a week of departing and nine per cent booked on the day of departure. Only 16 per cent of policies purchased were bought more than one month in advance of the trip.
“Booking a holiday can be costly,” said Cara Fortune, campaigns manager for the FCO’s ‘Know Before You Go’ team, “and it can be tempting to postpone things to the last minute. Our advice is to start early and plan carefully. It is always worth spending a bit of time to make sure you have the right type of travel insurance for your trip.”