Hi Sue ... I would think most people probably don't bother with insurance for UK holidays, simply because they do not need cover for medical expenses. But you obviously have to consider whether you would feel more comfortable having cover for delays, cancellations, curtailment, baggage, personal belongings, etc. The links on page 1 of the Travel Insurance sticky topic in General Holiday Enquiries will let you access quotes for UK as well as overseas insurance.

David

That is one of the reasons apart from going at least a couple of holidays abroad why we purchase annual travel insurance, it is good to know that we also have cover when going away for a few days here in the UK.

Thank you for your replies.
I think I will take out Insurance.
We used to do Annual but because of health issues and our ages it is not an option now.

Sue

I'm intrigued about the train company offering insurance! Which train company, what does the insurance cover and how much were they asking?

Anyway, your holiday may be within NHS cover so you'd think you were OK for that. But what if long term in-patient care was needed? Does the NHS cover ambulance transport back to your local hospital simply for convenience? For that matter, does insurance?? That's a big question to ask. And if the patient wasn't well enough to be moved closer to home the NHS certainly doesn't pay for the partner to stay in a hotel for extra time whilst waiting - so insurance would be the only answer. It doesn't matter how old you are, it's very sensible for you to consider this.

Theft or loss of property might be covered by home insurance.

Cancellation/curtailment costs would only be covered by insurance.

Delay within the UK may not be covered by insurance.

And whilst this thread is open, anyone thinking of the Isle of Man/ Channel Islands should be aware that they are NOT covered by the UK NHS.

Thank you Steve8482 for your thoughts on this insurance subject.
Last week I did take out Insurance as I was worried about the very issues which you have highlighted, particularly cancellation and also if either of us were ill and unable to return on the trains I have booked on.

You said;-

I'm intrigued about the train company offering insurance! Which train company, what does the insurance cover and how much were they asking?

Here is the wording I received with the Train Insurance, it cost £4:-
Thank you for choosing to insure your train journey with Columbus Direct in Partnership with thetrainline.com. You can now relax and enjoy your trip, safe in the knowledge that you are covered for cancellation, missed departure, lost or stolen baggage, travel delay and more besides.

I have now got that part incorporated in with the general Travel Insurance.

Regards Sue

I've some bad news for you, possibly two lots!

First, the Columbus policy offered via thetrainline has picked up a lot of bad publicity, especially over it's Delay section. It's basically an airline policy and measures delay at the departure point. So under part 1 of the Delay section, if your plane/train is more than 4 hours late setting off they pay out. Planes have been known to be 4 hours late taking off but seldom clock up more delay once they have done. Trains frequently set off on time and get delayed - and that isn't covered under part 1!!! Part 2 of the delay section covers total delay of more than 12 hours. I have never known a British train set off more than 4 hours late and can only think of a few occasions (usually blizzards) in the last 40 years when they have clocked up 12 hours delay. And even if you were unlucky enough to get delayed by these amounts you'd need a booking confrimation to prove it - but if you've bought an Anytime or Off Peak return in many cases you could make the return journey without a reservation within a month so wouldn't have a confirmation. Likewise if you'd bought a tourist travel pass. As far as I'm concerned this section is more or less useless for UK rail travel. And just shows that the Underwriters really don't understand the market they are trying to trade in.

Second, thetrainline is not a train company, it's a ticket sales agent that has some quite good internet software. There are two ways of getting at this software, either through thetrainline.com or through the websites of many of the real train companies. But there's a catch. If you do it direct there's a booking fee - if you do it via a train company there usually isn't! It doesn't matter which train company you use, they all sell everyones nationally available tickets*. So if you went direct you probably spent more than you needed.

*a tiny number of promotional fares (usually involving vouchers or promotion codes) are not nationally available, they can only be bought via special websites or telesales numbers or from specific stations.