Biba blasts Foreign Office advice for holidaymakers to get travel cover.
The insurance industry should not have to bear the cost of boozy Britons abroad, Biba said this week. Biba hit out after government comments that Brits should make sure they have travel insurance because accidents abroad were on the increase. Peter Staddon, head of technical services at Biba, said: “The government thinks it can get the insurance industry to foot the bill for people who drink recklessly abroad and end up arrested, or those who injure themselves when driving a motorcycle in socks and sandals.”
“Insurance companies expect people to have a drink but there is a difference between being reasonable and being reckless. Acts of recklessness should not be covered by insurance companies. Why should peoples’ travel insurance premiums go up just because a few thousand people visiting Spain have got themselves arrested?”
The government this week issued a report, based on Foreign Office records, that showed that 2,032 Brits were arrested in Spain last year – 33% more than the year before.
