When a thief smashed a window of his Ford Escort XR3i and made off with his cassette-radio, Mr Flack banged off an insurance claim for Pounds 288 thinking that he would have to pay Pounds 50 to Pounds 100 towards the cost of the damage. But he was staggered to receive a letter from his insurer, Frizzell, pointing out that he would not be receiving any compensation because his policy stipulated that he would pay the first Pounds 325 of damage himself.

Frizzell subsequently wrote to Mr Flack to admit that it had misinformed him over the claims procedure - he would have been entitled to Pounds 50 if he had claimed for the window and radio separately - and the company would therefore meet the Pounds 90 cost of the window repair.

But Mr Flack, 43, a teacher at West Park school, Worthing, West Sussex has paid Frizzell about Pounds 700 in insurance premiums over the past two years (this year’s premium was Pounds 373) and was not terribly impressed with the offer. He wrote to The TES suggesting that Frizzell policy-holders - many of the company’s customers are teachers - should check to see whether they had fallen into the same trap.

“I acknowledge my failure in not reading and analysing the implication of what was before me in print, but it is also a fact that no one pointed out to me when I switched to Frizzell that there were these excess clauses,” he said.

“I never dreamed that I would be asked to stump up Pounds 325 myself. I know my make of car has a high insurance rating but it isn’t one of those eye-catching XR3is that has ‘go faster’ stripes. It’s grey, and what’s more, I haven’t made an insurance claim since 1987 when a tree fell on top of my car. The saying that you only find out how good your policy is when you make a claim is true.”

When we took Mr Flack’s complaint back to Frizzell, the company said the underwriter had asked for the Pounds 325 excess (Pounds 250 for damage or theft and Pounds 75 to protect the no-claims benefit) because the XR3i was one of the “hot hatchbacks” that attract thieves and joy-riders.

But she admitted that the terms of the policy should have been explained to Mr Flack when he was offered the quotation. “Quite frankly we haven’t done very well on this occasion and when that happens we admit it. As a gesture of goodwill we will pay him Pounds 100, which amounts to roughly half of the claim for the radio-cassette.”

Mr Flack was delighted when we told him that he would be receiving a cheque for Pounds 100. But unfortunately for Frizzell, the news came too late to stop him taking his business elsewhere. “I’ve now taken out a policy with Guardian Direct and I think I’ll be happy with them. The premium is only Pounds 343 and the excess clauses are better. I only pay the first Pounds 100 of damage or Pounds 40 in the case of a windscreen. But I’m glad Frizzell had a re-think. That’s a very nice surprise.”