KATIE MORLEY INVESTIGATES

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LETTER OF THE WEEK Orphans denied £5,000 payout for ski accident

My close friend died in a skiing accident in 2016. He was 48. He fell 500ft down an abyss and hit the rocks at the bottom. The ski guide was prosecuted over it. The incident left his two children orphaned, as seven years previously their mother had also passed away. My wife and I are now their legal guardians.

I am trying to settle a travel claim with my late friend’s travel insurer, Cigna, which is still unresolved after three years. His cover included payment of up to £5,000 in the event of accidental death.

But because there was an investigation into the incident, many of the documents needed to process the claim took a long time to become available. After we submitted the available documentation in March this year, Cigna said it needed a copy of his “final death certificate” to confirm the stated cause of death.

We don’t have this as the Kent coroner has still to hold a full inquest. They are awaiting details from the French authorities that investigated the accident and prosecuted the ski guide. A copy of the coroner’s initial death certificate has been sent to Cigna, however, which should suffice.

Surely it was unreasonable for the firm to withhold payment on this technicality?

PD, KENT

My heart goes out to these poor children. I was deeply saddened to hear about how cruel life had been to ones so young. On reading your letter I decided to do all I could to help them.

In 2016 the ski accident involving their father made headlines. It was even covered by this newspaper. Your friend, a highly regarded consultant urologist, was skiing off piste with others and a guide when he fell.

He was pronounced dead at the scene, while his family were skiing on another side of the mountain. It was an accident that should never have happened.

I took your case to Cigna and it said this so-called “accidental death” cover required certain criteria to be met in order for payment to be made. Typically, it is able to establish the circumstances leading to a death via a coroner’s inquest, following which the corner will release the necessary information to interested parties such as insurers.

Originally it thought this would happen quickly, it said, but it later found out that this information was unlikely to be ready until mid2020. As you say, the ski guide was

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This would clearly be an unacceptable time frame, and I’m pleased to report that following my intervention Cigna has taken the same view. It is paying £5,000 into the children’s estate, which will be kept in trust for them.

A Cigna spokesman said: “Our thoughts are with the family following this tragedy. On learning recently that there would be no formal death certificate and that the inquest is delayed until mid-2020, we settled the claim early.”

In Cigna’s defence it said some of the length of time it had already taken to get this claim paid was down to you not contacting it until a year after your friend’s death. There were also some delays in you sending it relevant documentation, it said.

Having spoken to you at length, this was perfectly understandable.

It seems you have had your work cut out with sorting out the children’s finances. Getting their estate in order has been fiendishly complicated and you have run up against some major hurdles. Issues regarding this insurance claim are relatively minor by comparison.

I have offered to help you solve these problems if the companies involved decide not to play ball.

Despite the tragic hand these children have been dealt in life, I can see they are lucky to have you and your wife as guardians. You were chosen by their parents for a reason.

You are clearly devoted to making sure these children enter adulthood in financial security, and thanks to your love and care it sounds as if they are destined to grow into the adults their parents would have wanted them to be.

For this you should be very proud. I’m so pleased you allowed me to assist your monumental efforts in some small way.

I travelled from Birmingham to Chepstow in a group of four to attend a music festival. I booked the tickets so we were sitting together. But when we boarded the CrossCountry train we found that our seats were already occupied. We pointed out our reservation and asked the people to move, but they refused.

They were all in their 20s and we are all in our 60s. We called the guard and explained the situation to her. She asked them to move but again they refused. She then turned to me and said: “If they won’t move, there’s nothing I can do”. She then returned to her compartment and did not reappear for the rest of the journey.

As the train was very busy, two of us managed to find seats, which were not together, and the other two had to stand. I’m appalled at the lack of customer service shown by the guard. If she requested a passenger to move from someone else’s reserved seat and that person refused, she should have called for back-up to enforce it. She shouldn’t have just shrugged her shoulders. What sort of message does that send out?

When I returned from the weekend I complained to Trainline, from which I bought my ticket. It sent a sympathetic response and advised that I complain directly to CrossCountry. This I did but I have heard nothing yet.

CB, LANCASHIRE

These young adults who put the comfort of their backsides ahead of their morals should be ashamed. What kind of people would knowingly steal the rightful seats of people who are likely to be less able to stand? The answer is those with a severe attitude problem.

You feel CrossCountry didn’t have your back and should have fought harder to get this group to move. I think they deserved to be ejected from the train.

However, when resolving disputes train staff must also consider their personal safety. I get the impression that this train guard felt the situation had the potential to escalate.

Perhaps leaving them to it may have resulted in the lesser of two bad outcomes? We will never know. Either way, it is disappointing that more back-up staff were not available to assist the guard.

I took your case to Trainline and instead of passing the buck to CrossCountry as it had previously, within hours it had agreed to refund you fully for the tickets. The £78 is now in your bank account. CrossCountry is also investigating the incident to check it was handled correctly.

In the meantime it has agreed to pay you a goodwill gesture of £10 to say sorry for two of your group having to stand. You are glad this has swiftly been resolved so you can move on and stop dwelling on it.

Twentysomethings stole train seats of group in 60s