Am I trapped in insurance hell?

One morning late last year my Peugeot was parked in a hotel car park in France. The front tyres were touching the kerb and the offside wheels were brushing the adjacent kerb. The diagram drawn by the offending driver shows my car standing out in the road. It was not. It was 8.05am local time and dark. I was loading my vehicle and had left its tailgate open while I went to get a suitcase from the front passenger seat. A truck was reversing and caught the opened tailgate.

The details of the accident were dealt with in the consulate. My contact there spoke with the driver and also contacted the insurance representative who agreed to pay the costs for my return to England.

On my return I was contacted by several companies regarding vehicle hire, claim for inconvenience and also whiplash injuries, all of which I declined. I was able to use a spare company van until my vehicle was returned. I am meticulous in my life, taking only what is due.

I rang Peugeot Insurance on probably eight to 10 occasions to follow up the claim and each time I was put through to a different person. One person in Glasgow told me I had no claim on the insurance company. GG, GLOS

Many readers complain that the financial institutions which are keen to take their money are less willing to answer legitimate questions.

You felt strongly that you had been fair and reasonable with the insurer so it was all the more duty bound to be fair with you.

Following the accident you were quite shaken up and seemed more traumatised than you would have expected. As time passed you report that you became unusually startled by any sudden noise or people approaching you out of your field of vision. Each time you envisaged the car being pushed towards you with the sound of an explosion, as happened in the accident.

It took nearly five weeks for the vehicle to