The cost of replacing a lost bus pass, insurance policy, MOT, passport

Losing your bus pass, passport, MOT or even insurance policy is not just a source of irritation. It also hits you in the pocket as you have to shell out on the replacement costs.

I lost £10 this week. Well it certainly felt like it when £10 of my hard-earned cash went straight into the coffers of Central Bedfordshire council; and all because my daughter lost her school bus pass. Now, I was expecting a small charge for a replacement, but £10? And we’re not talking a personalised photo card here; just a pretty average credit-card-sized piece of card.

So if you’re unlucky enough to lose anything from an insurance policy to your railcard or even your passport how much will you get charged for a replacement?

Railcards and bus passes

If we’re talking about those ‘family and friends’ or ‘network’ discount railcards, then it’s £5 a time though this goes up to £10 in January.

If you're unlucky enough to lose your annual season ticket the most any train company can charge for a replacement is £20, according to the Association of Train Operating Companies (ATOC). However small print states you can only have one duplicate per year, unless you later find and produce your original ‘lost’ ticket.

Lose an Oyster card, and providing you’re registered it online, it can be cancelled and any remaining credit transferred to a new card free of charge. If it’s not registered it’s just like losing cash as anyone can use the card so you can’t get a free replacement.

Charges for duplicate bus passes, including concessionary fares and school bus passes, vary from free replacements with North Yorkshire County Council to others charging between £5- £10.

Insurance policies

If you buy your car, home or travel insurance online you can log into your account and print off as many copies as you want. And with insurers like Aviva, even if you don’t buy online, you can still set up an online account which gives you immediate access to all your policy documents.

But if you do want a duplicate paper copy sent out most insurers will charge you. With Hastings Direct it’s £20 (although they’ll email or fax one over free of charge) and with Halifax it’s £10.

But do you actually need a replacement insurance certificate? The Association of British Insurers say there’s no requirement to have a paper copy of your policy, but it can be useful in certain circumstances. Around half of us still buy our car tax at the Post Office, (according to the DVLA), and this means you’ll need to show your insurance certificate. And if you’re stopped by the police you may be asked to produce documents, including car insurance, or show them at a police station.

MOT certificate

Providing your car has passed its MOT, you can still drive it even if you’ve lost the certificate. However, as with car insurance, you do need to produce your MOT if you get your car tax in person. Or if you want to get an ‘early’ MOT done, producing your current certificate means you can carry forward up to one month from the previous certificate.

[SPOTLIGHT]You can get a replacement from any MOT testing station and the most you’ll pay is £10. To get one take along your vehicle registration certificate (V5C).

Passport

There's no way around forking out the full cost again with this one. Call the Identity and Passport Service (0300 222 0000) to cancel your ‘lost’ one and ask for an LS01 form to register the loss.

It’s the same form for new and replacement passports, which you can pick up at the Post Office or from the Passport Service. An adult passport costs £72.50 with a turn around time of around three weeks. For a faster option it’s £103 for the one week ‘fast track’ service, but that’s as good as it gets as the one day ‘emergency’ passport option isn’t available for replacements.

Airline boarding passes

Lose your boarding pass and you can pay up to £60 for a replacement with Ryanair.

If your airline demands you arrive at the airport with your boarding pass, print it off before leaving home or if you forget, pop in an internet café on the way. However with Ryanair you’ve got to do this more than four hours before departure, or there’s no way round the £60 fee.

Other airlines aren’t quite so tough. Forget your boarding pass with easyJet and there’s no charge. Join the check-in queue and they’ll print you a spare one free.

Bank statements

For free copies log into your account online and print them off for free. But banks vary when it comes to how far back their online systems go. With Nationwide it’s three years, with Santander just over four and ten years with Lloyds TSB.

But if you don’t have online banking or want a statement further back than your bank’s online system will allow you may have to pay for it. Nationwide charges £5 a copy, or £10 for two or more. With Santander it’s the same deal for statements prior to January 2009 but free after that date and Lloyds TSB gives you unlimited free copies if you’re registered to receive paper statements. But if not it’s £5 each.

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