Brits risk Bank Holiday hell by travelling without insurance

This coming weekend will see nearly two million Britons heading to sunnier climes, according to new research from Lloyds TSB Added Value Accounts. However, their Bank Holiday heaven could quickly become their worst nightmare if they take flight without the appropriate holiday cover.

A survey of more than 1,000 UK residents has found that one in ten - equivalent to 5.2 million people- have been on holiday in the past without organising travel insurance. Over half of travellers (54 per cent) admit that they simple didn't think about it, one in five say they forgot to purchase this vital cover, while a time-poor nine per cent admit that they didn't have a spare moment to organise insurance before they set off on their break.

More than half (51 per cent) of those travellers surveyed who have ventured overseas without travel insurance say that they didn't cover themselves as they have hardly ever claimed against a policy. This comes despite over one in ten Brits saying that they lost their luggage whilst on holiday, 14 per cent say they have had to visit the doctor on a previous trip and one in five confessing that they have actually been admitted to hospital while overseas.

Catherine McGrath, head of current accounts at Lloyds TSB, comments: "We all know how stressful it can be in the run-up to a holiday and it's inevitable that something is going to fall by the wayside. However, sometimes our holidays aren't as relaxing as we hope they will be and it's then that a decision not to take out travel cover could come back to haunt us.

"Our Added Value Account customers don't have to think twice about their travel cover as it's included with their current account. And it has certainly come in handy for many of our customers - we help a holidaymaker every four minutes, 365 days a year."

Car trouble

And it's not just those Brits who are heading overseas this weekend who could be sailing into choppy waters. As ‘staycations' become ever more popular, millions are expected to take to the road and enjoy the English countryside this weekend.

However, more than one in ten (13 per cent) Brits don't have car breakdown cover - risking a hard shoulder holiday if they have car trouble. 42 per cent of those people who are staying in the UK this weekend say they are concerned about traffic congestion, while one in five (21 per cent) say that they are worried about the prospect of a Bank Holiday breakdown.

Unfortunately, customer data from Lloyds TSB Added Value Accounts (AVA) proves that some of us will find ourselves stranded on the roadside this weekend. In fact, one AVA account holder is rescued every two minutes by Lloyds TSB. This month, Lloyds TSB's breakdown service, provided by the AA, rescued its three millionth AVA customer; with the longest rescue taking a hapless traveller 556 miles from the Northern tip of Scotland to Shrewsbury.

Catherine McGrath adds: "We all want to sit back and relax this weekend, not while away the hours on the hard shoulder.

"Breakdown cover may not seem like a necessity, but our customer data shows that none of us are immune to car trouble. Our AVA customers can be sure that they won't be left high and dry in the event of a Bank Holiday disaster."

Lloyds TSB Added Value Accounts are incredibly popular with customers, providing account holders with a wide range of useful benefits including travel insurance, car breakdown cover and mobile phone insurance.

New customers can open an Added Value Account by calling into their local Lloyds TSB branch. Existing current account customers can upgrade to an Added Value Account by visiting lloydstsb.com/benefits.