The Sunday Times June 5, 2022 15
MONEY
I
took out motor insurance in June
last year with the insurer Broker
Direct through a local broker. The
premium was £829 as I am 28. I
moved from my parents’ house in
August, having bought a terrace
house in Belfast. I ran into the back
of another car in December. There
was no damage to either car and I
reported the incident to the police.
The driver and passenger of the other
car engaged solicitors who wrote to me
on February 8 about claims of “personal
injury, loss and damage”. Broker Direct
then wrote to me a few weeks later
saying that I had not made it aware of my
new address. Had I informed it about the
change of address “we would not have
continued to offer the motor insurance
policy to you... your policy is declared
null and void from the date you changed
your address, August 1, 2021, as this risk
would have been unacceptable to us”.
Broker Direct then confirmed its
stance after my broker made a plea for it
to reconsider.
I accept that I overlooked informing
the insurer of the change of address. Is it
saying, however, that it does not insure
cars belonging to residents of the BT7
area of south Belfast? I have spoken to a
number of people in the insurance
industry and they all judge the actions as
incredibly harsh or as “giving insurance
companies a bad name”. I have
effectively been left uninsured with a
personal injury claim against me.Jill replies
You told me that “changing addresses
relating to the car simply wasn’t on my
radar, especially as I am at home
regularly seeing my parents and picking
up any post”. I’m sure you are not the
only person to forget about informing
your insurer of your change of address,
but it’s a very dangerous thing to do.
Broker Direct said very clearly on
page 3 of your policy: “You must tell us
immediately if any of your information is
incorrect or changes. If we have wrong
information this may result in an
increased premium and/or claims not
being paid in full, or your insurance may
not be valid and claims will not be paid.”
You had broken this term, enabling
Broker Direct to make your policy null
and void and leaving you to face paying
the accident claim yourself. Even worse:
as someone who had a policy “voided”
you are virtually uninsurable.
It’s not for you or I to decide which
drivers Broker Direct wants to sell
insurance to. Insurers have different
claims experiences, and maybe Broker
Direct has had more expensive claims in
BT7 than other insurers. Also, to be
frank, you are not a great proposition:
you drive a sporty car, you are young
and you have incurred a lot of speeding
points. If I were an insurer, I wouldn’t
touch you with a bargepole.
Still, you were stuck without
insurance so I asked Broker Direct to
reinstate your policy so that you could
seek cover with another insurer when
your renewal date comes up. It told me
that the premium it would charge for the
postcode BT7 is so high that it doesn’t
normally think it reasonable to offer
cover. But given your predicament, it
offered to insure you again provided that
you pay about £2,400 on top of the £829
you had already paid.
You were delighted with this
outcome. I’m not so sure. Usually I feel
very satisfied after sorting out a reader’s
problem, but as a driver and a parent of
someone nearly your age, I worry about
you. People of Belfast beware.systems of the two companies dislike
each other intensely. However, surely
someone at Aegon could have called
your company to sort out the problem?
Aegon said the initial delay was due to
confirming the trustee of the scheme,
but it could have been quicker in trying
to get the correct paperwork from the
trustees. When you have chosen how to
take your pension and Aegon is able toI asked Aegon to email the missing
document to me and I sent it on to your
company. It was signed and returned to
me and I emailed it on to Aegon. You
now have access to your £250,000 pot.
I have no idea what went wrong in this
process. At my request Aegon tried
emailing the missing form direct to a
named person at your old company, but
she still didn’t get it. It seems the emailPlease promise me that in return for
sorting out your problem you will slow
down, stop incurring speeding fines and
running into other cars. Ideally switch
your car for a sewing machine on wheels
or a lawnmower. And if you change
anything — your home, your name, your
shoe size — just tell your insurer.
Finally, at the risk of sounding like
your mum, have you informed DVLA
about your change of address? Because
it will fine you if it discovers that you
haven’t and, given that you are forking
out over £3,000 for insurance, that is the
last thing you need.Time for some
quid pro quo, BA
In July 2021 we requested travel
vouchers from BA as it became apparent
that I, my wife and my daughter were
not going to be able to take our holiday
to Malta due to the country’s entry
policy in relation to Covid.
Since then our daughter, who is
autistic, has experienced a huge decline
in her mental health. She has developed
debilitating anxiety issues and an eating
disorder which results in her rarely
leaving the home. We are unable to leave
her alone for any extended periods of
time because she cannot eat unattended.
We have written to BA explaining our
situation and requesting a cash refund
for the vouchers, as we see no possibility
of being able to travel by air soon. Our
daughter is in receipt of disability
benefits and her complex mental heath
issues are well known to our GP, local
authority and NHS trust. BA is refusing
to offer a refund despite our offer to
provide medical evidence.
Can you help? BA seems to be sticking
to the small print of its voucher policy
and ignoring the reality of our situation.Jill replies
BA’s voucher terms say that they have an
expiry date and cannot be renewed or
exchanged for cash. But these are BA’s
terms and conditions, which means it
can decide to ignore them if a deserving
case like yours comes along.
I pointed out to BA that you had been
happy to accept vouchers at a time when
all airlines were struggling financially,
and so you played a small part in helping
it to smooth its cashflow in the
pandemic. Now your family is facing a
worrying time, it would be nice to see BA
return that consideration. BA obviously
agreed, as it contacted you the next day
to say that it would refund your £762.My pension is buried
by paperwork
I am 71 and trying to access a pension set
up as an executive pension scheme with
Aegon about 20 years ago. There were
three members, and I was one of the
three beneficiaries, as well as being the
trustee and a director of the company.
I ceased to be a director two years ago.
Despite frequent requests, fully
supported by the current directors and
trustees, for my share of the pension
scheme to be assigned to me, I am one
year into this process and getting
nowhere. Aegon sends application forms
after huge delays, and once completed
and returned their receipt is never
acknowledged. Aegon will not
communicate details of the scheme or
progress with me directly since I retired
as a director. I am dealing with the
“closed book” team, which lives up to its
name, and I need help.Jill replies
The other two beneficiaries of the
scheme are still working and do not want
to draw on their pension yet, so you just
needed access to your part of the
scheme, which has been valued at
£250,000.
One of the current directors of the
company wrote to Aegon in September,
October and November, relinquishing
interest in your share and requesting
that Aegon assign it to you. Aegon didn’t
respond.
In January Aegon contacted your old
company to say it had not received the
right documents but had resent them for
completion. That it had received any was
surprising to your former colleagues, as
they had not seen any forms at all.
Finally the forms arrived by email, and
your company completed and posted
them back to Aegon. At the beginning of
March Aegon emailed you to say it still
hadn’t received the deed of assignment,
so your former company emailed its
scan of the assignment document again.
Two weeks later Aegon told you it still
hadn’t received all the necessary forms
so on April 21 your company posted
them by special delivery.
On May 10 you contacted me for help.People
of Belfast,
beware of
this driver
calculate whether you have suffered
financial detriment, it will work out how
much compensation to pay you.Foo Fighters loss
In October last year my son bought two
tickets for “admittance to the Rock in Rio
Lisboa” festival in Portugal on June 18,2022, from Ticketmaster UK. The tickets
cost £128, plus £1.75 order processing.
For my son the main attraction was
Foo Fighters, who were scheduled to be
the headline act. The untimely death of
the Foo Fighters drummer in March
subsequently led to the cancellation of
all scheduled Foo Fighters appearances,
including Rock in Rio Lisboa. The event
is still going ahead, with the organisers
booking a replacement band, Muse, to
fill the headline slot on June 18.
My son has approached Ticketmaster
for a refund on three separate occasions,
arguing that the event he booked for has
changed so much that it is effectively no
longer the same event. Each time
Ticketmaster has refused to refund,
arguing that it can’t offer exchanges or
refunds for tickets unless the event is
cancelled — “that’s in line with the
agreement that we have with the venue
and event organisers, and we sell the
tickets on their behalf ”.
However, the event organisers have
posted this on the official website,
rockinlisboa.sapo.pt: “In case the client
do not want to enjoy the 18th of June, or
any other festival day, he can ask for a
full refund of the ticket. He should ask
for the refund in the same ticket outlet
used in the original purchase.”
On the same webpage, the organisers
post links to international ticketing
outlets from where to request a refund,
including Ticketmaster UK. So it seems
that Ticketmaster UK is not honouring
the festival organisers’ refund policy.
There are online forums suggesting that
my son is by no means alone in trying to
get a ticket refund. Can you help?Jill replies
I asked Ticketmaster UK why it wasn’t
refunding Foo Fighter fans who no
longer wanted to go to the Rock in Rio
Lisboa festival after the death of Taylor
Hawkins. It didn’t explain why you had
previously been refused a refund, but
has now paid you the full £130. I, like
your son, hope that Foo Fighters recover
and make it back to performing live, but
whoever the band takes on as drummer
has big shoes to fill.QUESTION
OF MONEY
JILL INSLEY
CAN WE HELP YOU?
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Insley at questionofmoney@sunday-
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