Piano man lost £100,000

MARK CROSSLAND, 49, wanted to be sure his Leeds shop, PianoMan, would be covered if the UK went into lockdown, so he contacted broker S. Johnson & Co.

It suggested a Hiscox policy that included cover in the event of ‘restrictions introduced by a public authority’ as a result of ‘an occurrence of any human infectious or human contagious disease’.

The broker couldn’t promise that the shop would be covered, but pointed out there was no mention of pandemics in the small print.

Mark agreed to pay £1,200 for the policy, which began on March 11. But after the lockdown started, Hiscox posted a note on its website to say its policies did not include cover for ‘diseases linked to pandemics such as the coronavirus’.

It rejected Mark’s claim even though he has lost over £100,000 worth of sales. ‘This is a real issue of integrity,’ says Mark. ‘I left my old insurer after 15 years because I thought this policy would protect me. The wording must have been signed off by someone senior, but it has led to so many people wrongly believing they were covered.’

S. Johnson & Co did not respond to requests for comment.