I lost almost everything when a fire destroyed my home. My RBS home insurance covered contents up to the value of £50,000, but the loss adjuster is refusing to process the claim unless I can produce receipts or photographs of the destroyed items. I simply don't have these and he is, therefore, refusing even to make a temporary offer. AS, Glasgow

Insurers do commonly require evidence to prove you haven't retrospectively upgraded your Amstrad to an iMac, but it's clearly absurd, given the circumstances, to expect you to provide proof of every possession. Shortly after I contact RBS, you contact me to report that the bank has offered you a derisory £10,000. It turns out that, in its haste to prove its good intentions to the Observer, it offered this as an interim payment to tide you over and sent out the explanatory letter afterwards. The press office tells me, in the absence of receipts, that RBS needs a detailed description of your lost possessions, including the make and model of your TV. Happily, you have now been offered a total of £33,277 for your contents and more for your temporary accommodation costs, a decision, the loss adjuster told you, that was influenced by the fact the Observer was watching.

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