In January 2011 I booked flights to Lamu, where our son lives, for travel on November 30. We were due to flights with Virgin Atlantic from Heathrow to Nairobi and onwards with Air Kenya. After the kidnapping of a French woman from a beach house on Manda, near where my son lives, we felt we should cancel the trip in line with Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO) advice against all but essential travel to the Lamu archipelago.

I made a claim on my Insure for All travel policy for the cost of the non-refundable flights and associated expenses a total of £4,052.This claim has been refused because under the policy’s cancellation section the wording states that there is only cover for prevention of travel by British Government restrictions.