Travel insurance Europe: Martin Lewis warns UK holidaymakers to 'get cover' after woman loses £5,000 on pre-booked trip

Martin Lewis, the founder of MoneySavingExpert.com, has issued an urgent holiday alert to UK holidaymakers travelling to Europe this summer. It comes after a woman lost £5,000 by not taking out travel insurance.

He explained during his latest Martin Lewis Money Show Live on ITV that travel insurance is not just for when you're away but also if something happens before your trip. He urged viewers to get cover "as soon as you book". 

Coco, a viewer, shared her experience of losing £5,000 on a pre-booked trip due to a high-risk pregnancy advisory against travelling. She hadn't taken out travel insurance.

In a message read out on the show she said: "I was planning a holiday but was then advised that I was not safe to fly due to high risk pregnancy. The holiday was already paid for but I hadn't taken out travel insurance. I was told that I've lost the £5,000 that I had paid for the holiday."

Martin replied that having travel insurance is important “to cover us not just for when we're on holiday but in case something happens that stops us going on holiday”, adding “otherwise you get stuck like that.” He said: "Now let me tell you every year I get people who have been diagnosed with cancer and are having chemotherapy or terminal cancer, I've had people who've been paralysed, and they get in touch with me and they say 'I can't go on my holiday, what do I do?.

“And they say, I don't have travel insurance, can I cancel? Well look, unless you've got flexible booking, I'm going to say something that sounds very trite but I just want you to understand. You can't expect the hotel or the flight company to give you your money back.

He added: "If you bought a tennis racket and you broke your arm you can't say the tennis racquet is faulty. The tennis racquet is still working. The flight is still available, the hotel is still available, they're not going to give you your money back, that's why we have travel insurance, to cover us not just for when we're on holiday but in case something happens that stops us going on holiday. Otherwise you get stuck like that. Please." The money expert advises UK holidaymakers to use comparison websites like Compare the Market or MoneySuperMarket to look at the most recent prices for travel insurance.