Martin Lewis has sounded an urgent warning to people planning to go on holiday this summer. The alert concerns securing travel insurance before upcoming breaks. On The Martin Lewis Money show on Tuesday (April 25), the MoneySavingExpert founder spoke to Rita, who had emailed in to the programme about an issue she was having with her travel insurance provider. Rita explained that her son had died before he had gone on a holiday she had booked. After cancelling the trip and following “all proper procedures”, she expected to receive the money back from the insurance firm. However, she had still not received a refund from the company. "It’s a horrible situation to be in,” Mr Lewis told her on the show. “You have done absolutely everything right and one would hope the travel insurance company would treat you with a bit more care." If you’re not getting that refund, you need to understand why,” added Mr Lewis. He said that many people "don’t realise" that the travel insurance industry is fully regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), meaning Rita had the right to take the travel company to the financial ombudsman. The consumer champion recommended that Rita fight to get the money back by writing to the FCA to make a formal complaint. “You don’t need to write fancy language, you don’t need a lawyer,” said Mr Lewis, adding you can simply fill a form online and it’s free. Mr Lewis also urged holiday-goers to book travel insurance “sooner rather than later” before upcoming breaks. “So many people have booked their summer holidays but haven’t got travel insurance," he said. "My rule on travel insurance is to get it ASAB, ‘as soon as you book’, in case something happens to stop you going away beforehand.”
