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Agent calls on trade to join insurance class-action lawsuit

Bailey’s Travel is urging agents to get in touch with him in order to take a class action relating to business interruption insurance.

Owner Chris Bailey had hoped to claim between £200,000 and £250,000 in lost earnings on his business interruption insurance following January’s Supreme Court ruling in favour of small firms.

The court ordered insurers to pay out business interruption insurance claims where companies were affected by Covid-19.

Despite the new ruling, Bailey said his claim has once again been rejected based on the specific wording of his policy, which referenced a ‘notifiable disease manifesting itself at the premises’.

He said: “I have been told I have to prove that someone contracted Covid on my premises and got a positive test, then I can make a claim. I am saying ‘at the premises’ can mean in the vicinity of the shop, where Covid exists.

“It is very frustrating. The insurers want to tie you down to the precise wording of the policy but the Supreme Court said there should be no reason to prove the existence of Covid-19.”

Bailey took out business interruption insurance with Axa through broker James Hallam. He is currently seeking legal advice but said a court action would ideally need “another 50 agents” with the same policy as his to go ahead.

He said: “We are going to pursue this but I need more agents to join me to take a class action. I want as many as possible to contact me because it’s a cause worth fighting.

“It will be a battle and take time but I believe we will win. I suspect there could be hundreds of agents who have the same policy.”

Bailey said agencies like his were struggling to survive and “running out of cash” because they had to keep afloat for more than 12 months without any proper income as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.

“It’s a catastrophe of epic proportions. The reality is that we will be fighting for the next five years to build our businesses back to where they were [pre-Covid],” he said.

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