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Anonymous writes "To many lorry drivers their cab is their home but many HGV drivers out there may be totally unaware that all their personal property such as sat-nav’s, TV’s, DVD players, Laptops and other gadgets you have in your cab is uninsured even if they have a house policy covering personal property away from home or even your own vehicle policy. They always say you only find out how good your insurance company is when you make a claim.

I am insured by Churchill Insurance, one of the biggest and most publicly known brands in the country and have been for many years and was unfortunate to have my fully locked and alarmed Mercedes 815 sleeper cab broken into on a customer’s driveway during a delivery in Slough two weeks ago resulting in the theft of a brand new TomTom.LCD TV, Road Angel and a Sony Vaio Laptop and my wallet with all the problems that entails with bank cards etc. Despite it all happening under CCTV the police have got know where in finding the thieving little hooded culprits so having heard nothing from Churchill I chased it up with a phone call and spoke to a lovely lady who after studying my file said” Sorry your claim is not covered !” With shock horror I asked why and was told “Please refer to your policy do*****ent and it says you are only covered if the personal items were in a locked boot or a locked glove box”. Flabbergasted I explained yet again it was a lorry it did not have a boot nor did it have a lockable glove box only two tiny door pockets and the laptop, TV and wallet were in their respective bags on my bunk out of general view whilst the sat nav and road angel were admittedly attached to the windscreen but the cab was fully secured, immobiliser and alarm on and the lorry was under CCTV. I was even more flabbergasted by her reply” No Boot? Why didn’t you lock them in the back of the lorry? As you didn’t lock them in the boot or glove box securely I am sorry we won’t be paying out on this claim” Time after time I explained the lorry doesn’t have a glove box or boot so they were as secure as possible especially as I parked under the CCTV deliberately but to no avail...End of conversation.

After talking to numerous other drivers out on the road they have told me of other occasions that they have been heard of where a similar excuse by insurance companies has been used not to pay out. Churchill Insurance have been taking premiums off me for years some of these items as specified items but according to Churchill Insurance my vehicle wasn’t built correctly by Mercedes Benz so as to comply with Churchill Insurances Theft Policies. I must remember to write to all the truck manufacturers making 7.5 tonne trucks to redesign the lorry with a lockable boot or lockers so truckers’ personal property is safe!

ADMIN : Thanks for your amusing, but factual story. Dave "