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Agents ‘should not be allowed’ to sell travel insurance

Agents should not be allowed to sell travel insurance, according to the founder of a leading insurance provider.

InsureandGo founder Perry Wilson said agents do not receive enough training to sell insurance correctly.

“I don’t think the trade should be able to sell insurance because they cannot be doing it properly,” he said. “It takes me 12 weeks to train a member of staff and agents won’t receive anything like that. They just pay lip service to insurance.”

Wilson is also calling on the government to allow customers who offset their carbon footprint to be exempt from paying Air Passenger Duty (APD).

Insureandgo has launched a service that allows customers to opt in to pay £1.60 per person for short-haul flights to offset the environmental impact of their trip. Wilson is urging other insurance companies to offer a similar service.

“No-one knows where the APD money is going to be spent but this way we know it goes to carbon offsetting,” he said. “The more people who offset their travel, the easier it is for us to stand up to the government on APD.”

The increases in APD are expected to discourage 1.5 million people from flying, according to aviation campaign group Flying Matters.

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