CLIENTS TRAVELLING WITHOUT INSURANCE

Our Booking Conditions require all clients to be insured either through the insurance policy which we offer or some similar policy. The reason we insist upon this is that the The Package Travel, Package Holidays and Package Tours Regulations 1992 and the ABTA Code of Conduct for Tour Operators place certain obligations on us to assist clients who find themselves in difficulties.

Although we are required to provide assistance, we are not obliged to bear the cost of such assistance. On the contrary we are entitled to reclaim those costs in full from the clients whom we are obliged to assist. Where a client has a valid insurance policy, these costs are recovered from the insurer. If there is no valid insurance policy, we have to recover the costs directly from the client.

The risks, especially of medical costs, are very much greater when travelling abroad and that is why overseas insurance is so much more expensive. However, there are material risks in the UK also. It is sometimes said that clients travelling within the UK do not require insurance because the risks are small and in particular medical insurance is often thought to be unnecessary. In our experience this belief is a mistaken one. As rapidly spreading viruses such as norovirus or swine flu have become more widespread, it has become quite common for clients to have to return separately from the remainder of their group in order to avoid spreading illness to other people in the hotel or on the coach. This usually involves hiring a taxi from resort to the client's home and these can prove very expensive.

We cannot offer advice about which insurance policy to take. Everyone has slightly different needs and that is a decision each person has to make for themselves. We will permit clients to travel uninsured within the UK providing they have signed the indemnity statement below. However, we will not accept a booking for an overseas holiday without a valid insurance policy being in place.

INDEMNITY STATEMENT

Whereas I have declined to take out holiday insurance cover offered by the tour operator in connection with the arrangements referred to below and furthermore I have declined to take out comparable insurance cover offered by the travel agent through whom the arrangements have been made I hereby undertake on behalf of myself and all members of my party to arrange holiday insurance which provides comparable cover to that offered in the tour operator�s brochure. Furthermore I agree on behalf of myself and all members of my party that should I fail to arrange such insurance, I shall indemnify the tour operator and travel agent for any costs that arise which would otherwise have been met had such insurance cover been taken out.

Signed: ________________________

Date: ________________________

Name: ________________________

Travel Agent: ________________________

Address: ________________________ ________________________ ________________________

Tour Operator : Alfa Travel Ltd

Holiday Ref: _________________

Departure Date: _________________

This Indemnity Statement should be signed and sent to Alfa Travel at the time of booking.