Sainsbury Finance carried out a poll of a thousand travellers, which revealed that one in four Britons plan to travel without travel insurance leaving themselves venerable to thousands in medical bills if something was to go wrong.

It is believed that a third of Britons believe that they don’t need travel insurance whilst another fifth claiming that they can’t afford it blaming the current credit crunch.

Erfan Hussain a representative from the Association of British Insurers said that “Travel insurance can cover cancellations, lost cash and valuables and emergency medical treatment,” he went on to say that “While such events are always stressful, travelling with insurance gives some peace of mind to holidaymakers that they will not be left stranded abroad without cash or facing potentially large hospital bills if they fall ill or are injured.”

The survey found that people aged 55-64 are least likely to take out travel insurance even though they are possibly more prone to injury whilst on holiday, this is compared with two thirds of 16-24 year olds taking out travel insurance.

Steve Johnson head of insurance at Sainsbury’s commented on the survey results saying that “travel insurance and it should be regarded as a holiday essential... It’s just as important as packing your passport.”