A furious motorist, whose car was written off in the Airport car park during Hurricane Fabian, is suing his insurance company after it failed to honour his claim.

Shane Brown, a 32-year-old recruitment manager, has been told by insurer BF&M that his Ford Escort soft-top is not covered despite him offering them written proof that other customers parked on the same day have been paid out.

Mr. Brown left the car at the airport on the Thursday before Fabian struck when he and his girlfriend went on vacation to New York after deciding that leaving it home, in a car park surrounded by trees and next to a three-storey building which eventually lost its roof in the storm, would not have been a good idea.

He returned from his holiday on the Wednesday after the storm to find the passenger window smashed, the soft-top ripped and the well of the car filed with debris - and the vehicle would not start.

It has since been declared a write-off by mechanics, but BF&M have told him they will not pay out because he shouldn't have been parked there.

"Of course I was concerned about the car but I would have been concerned about it if I had left it at home where everyone else had cleared cars and bikes from the parking lot," he told The Royal Gazette.

"They are trying to tell me I that I am not covered because I parked it at the airport but there were no signs saying that we shouldn't leave the car there.

"If I left it at Elbow Beach with the windows down and the bonnet up then they could say that I hadn't taken due care, but I don't think leaving with all the other cars at the airport is the same thing.

"There were other people up there who had left cars who flew on the Thursday."

Mr. Brown has been given a written statement from a fellow BF&M customer who also parked at the airport on the Thursday but has since been paid out, albeit an ex gratia payment.

He he also has a written statement from another BF&M customer who parked on Wednesday and has also been paid out in full.

He tried to convey this to the insurance company, but he said they were not interested.

"It would be fair to say I am pretty annoyed at the way they have handled this," he continued.

"I am not happy with the attitude or the professionalism of the staff and the way they have dealt with this. It is one thing saying that they will not pay me, without really giving me a proper reason, but it is another to ignore me when I tell them that I have proof that they have paid out other people who parked the same day, at the same airport, with the same type of policy.

"To dismiss that is wrong. I have taken advice from a lawyer and we are putting together a legal claim."

Section 1(E) of his policy states that the car is covered in case of "flood, hurricane, cyclone, tornado, windstorm, volcanic eruption, earthquake or other convulsion of nature".

"You take out insurance for a reason," he added.

"And then to find out they won't pay is ridiculous. I have been wasting hours on the phone dealing with this in the last few weeks."You'd think they would have more compassion after something like a hurricane has hit the Island."

Mr. Brown is insured for $5,400 for the vehicle, which he has only had for 12 months during which time he has spent $5,000 on it.

The Royal Gazette was unable to obtain comment from BF&M yesterday.