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Travellers warned to check their cover after girl's quad-bike injury
BY TERESA HUNTER
Britain's biggest internet travel insurer, Columbus, last week flew a badly injured British teenager home from Greece, having initially refused to pay her repatriation costs and medical bills after a quad-bike accident.
Janine Clarke and her mother Sharon declined the offer of safety helmets when they hired the quad bikes because it was hot and they were not required to wear them under Greek law.
Janine suffered serious head injuries when her bike hit a pothole and she was thrown into the path of a car. She also broke her back.
Columbus originally argued that the claim, made on a policy issued by its subsidiary Go-Sure, had been invalidated by Janine's decision not to wear a helmet. But it is now investigating whether the activity was covered at all by the policy.
The Financial Ombudsman Service receives around 50 complaints a month about similar disputed claims.
David Cresswell of the FOS said: "A case like this will always turn on the extent to which the individual has been reckless. They must be aware that if an insurer can prove they have courted danger, their cover may well be nullified."
Cresswell urged all travellers to check their cover carefully before engaging in any dangerous activities.
The insurer's change of heart came after Janine's grandmother, Jean Bircumshaw, took the story to her local Bournemouth newspaper. But Columbus is still refusing to pay the medical bill and associated expenses, including the £3,000 her parents had to pay the quad-bike company before they could leave the country.
A spokesman for Columbus said holidaymakers could be "unbelievably negligent" when indulging in risky sports.
He said: "After Ozzie Osborne and Rik Mayall had terrible accidents involving quad bikes, everyone knows how dangerous they are. People with no experience get on these bikes, or on other motor cycles, riding in shorts and without helmets on rough roads.
"Any experienced motorcyclist would be appalled at such reckless behaviour."
The Sunday Telegraph July 2004
