Raw Deal: Mobility scooter had to be left behind after disastrous holiday

Lisa Esen and mum Dinah, who was forced to leave her mobility scooter in Turkey (Chris Austin / DC Thomson)

SOMETIMES holidays don’t go as planned. It happens to all of us.

When bad things happen and you are a long way from home it is essential to have holiday insurance in place.

But what happens if the insurance doesn’t go as planned either?

Lisa Esen, of Wallyford, East Lothian, and her family, including her 71-year-old mother Dinah, had a fortnight in Marmaris, on Turkey’s lovely Turquoise Coast, in July.

As responsible people, they had what they thought was robust holiday insurance cover in place.

After an idyllic fortnight, the last day turned to disaster when Lisa was admitted to hospital with pneumonia and a collapsed lung.

Her family stayed by her bedside until her release after four days.

Lisa contacted her insurer, Nationwide, to arrange flights home.

It took a frustrating further three days of phone calls to sort out. Lisa spent £90 in total on the calls, eventually having to rely on her adult son, who was still at home in the UK, to make some of the arrangements.

Lisa advised that the transfer to the airport would also need to take Dinah’s motability scooter.

But when the vehicle turned up, it wasn’t big enough to carry the scooter.

With a plane to catch and an understandable desire to get home after three weeks, the scooter was left behind.

The Esen family got home, but their problems weren’t over. Each time Lisa called Nationwide she seemed to be passed to a different claim handler or spoke to a different department.

After several weeks of wrangles over whether food and laundry was covered by the insurance policy, Nationwide dropped a bombshell. It decided the scooter wasn’t covered.

Lisa got in touch with Raw Deal.

Dinah has a larger scooter for using on a daily basis but her Shoprider Capri, still on holiday in Turkey, is her portable scooter, designed to dismantle so it can fit into a car. It is invaluable to her for shopping trips.

Shoprider Capris cost £546.

The claims handler Lisa talked to had listened to the calls she made from Marmaris and Lisa had clearly stated the scooter was to be uplifted.

Raw Deal had a word with Nationwide.

The firm had a wee think about it then came back to say: “Although Mrs Esen’s mother wasn’t named on the policy, we agreed to cover her repatriation.

“We also agree to cover the cost of her mobility scooter, which was left behind due to a mistake being made around the transport to the airport. We apologise for any conflicting information given to the customer during the claim.

“Mrs Esen is now a named person on her daughter’s policy, meaning she will be covered in future.

“Customers are reminded to check their policies to ensure that they, and any other family members, are adequately covered.”

This was very nice of them, although it should also be noted that many insurers don’t want to cover people over the age of 70 so arranging this part of holiday insurance can be tricky.

It is always a good idea, however, to know exactly what you are covered for.

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