Many people have been conned into buying travel insurance from agents - but new legislation should reduce the practice, according to Sainsbury's.
More than 400,000 people have been misinformed by agents over travel insurance, new research has revealed.
A study by Sainsbury's found that five percent of people who had bought insurance from a travel agent in the last year were incorrectly told that they could not book their holiday without it.
In addition, many of these policies may not provide enough cover. More than 16 percent of the group who bought insurance from an agent said that they were not quizzed over their medical conditions - down from last year - while 17 percent said that they had not been informed on what the insurance would and would not cover - an increase of four percent.
However, from the start of the year, agents will be regulated by the Financial Services Authority (FSA). Sainsbury's said it welcomed this move.
"This is an alarming finding, but it will be much more difficult for rogue travel agents to do this once they are regulated by the FSA," said Sam Marrs, Sainsbury's travel insurance manager. "Our research shows that up to as many as 8.14 million people could have bought insurance from travel agents over the past 12 months and the new regulation will provide consumers with valuable much-needed protection."
