No insurance payout for coma teenager
Travel insurance firm Europ Assistance has rejected an insurance claim from a British teenager who suffered severe head injuries in a car crash whilst on holiday in France.
Dicken Richards, 18, woke from a four day coma in a Toulouse hospital this week to discover that his insurance company will not pay out because the car he was travelling in was overloaded, and he was not wearing a seatbelt.
A spokesperson for Europ Assistance said: “Regrettably the circumstances in which Mr Richards was injured are clearly not covered under the terms of his insurance policy.
“Exclusions apply to any claims that relate to a customer being involved in any malicious, reckless, illegal or criminal act.
“Specifically, Mr Richards was not wearing a seatbelt, as required by law.”
Richards’s friend, Ben Crozier, 19, died in the crash. Two more passengers were seriously hurt, while two others escaped with minor injuries.
Local police said the Peugeot 206 veered off the road and flipped over because it was too full.
Jon Maine, Richards’ stepfather, said the insurance firm’s allegation of his stepson not wearing a seatbelt is “hearsay and not yet proven”.
Category: Insurance News, Travel Insurance News
Comments (1)
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Under the road traffic act in this circumstance the driver is responsible for the car being overloaded. Also not wearing a seat belt for a passenger in a road traffic accident may reduce compensation available by a small percentage up to a rarely used maximum of 50%.
So why is there such a difference in the terms of car and travel insurance from Europ Assistance?