76219-49A SWINDON couple returned from their holiday to Gran Canaria - but one of their suitcases didn't. And their travel insurers - Tesco Personal Finance - said they have to provide a receipt for every item in the case before they pay up.

James and Heather Cooke, of Florence Way, claim they lost £3,000 worth of belongings when their suitcase went missing between Gran Canaria and Gatwick in December.

Heather, 27, an administrator for Homebase in Swindon and James, 28, a self-employed bathroom fitter, booked a Sunset Holiday to Gran Canaria for a week from November 29 to December 6 last year.

When they arrived back at Gatwick Airport they only received one of their two suitcases.

Mrs Cooke said: "I was in tears.

"We were told not to worry, bags get found all the time."

The case contained designer clothes, presents for the couple's children five-year-old daughter Chloe and four-year-old son Jordan a camera, socks and underwear.

Mrs Cooke said: "I was given a number to call and phoned it day and night for a week.

"We were absolutely devastated.

"We were itching to replace the items but just hoped we would get the bag back."

By Christmas, the couple had still not received their bags.

Tesco Personal Finance then told the couple they would have to send them a receipt for every item.

Mrs Cooke said: "I was angry. I felt like they were making my life very difficult. It seemed Tesco didn't believe us. It was almost like they were calling us liars."

But according to insurance watchdog, the Financial Services Authority (FSA), regulated insurers are within their rights to demand receipts in this way.

Robin Gordon-Walker, a spokesman for the FSA said: "We expect firms to have good systems to sort out true or false claims. Some companies insist on receipts, some don't, it varies."

The items that had been lost in the Cooke's case had been bought over a five-year period.

Mrs Cooke said the couple had used five different credit cards and two current accounts over the last five years. It would have cost her at least £10 a time to get statements from her building society as proof of purchase for all the items.

Mrs Cooke said: "To get statements for all the items would have cost me a fortune. It wouldn't have been worth claiming."

But following a call from the Adver, Tesco Personal Finance said it had since been in touch with Mrs Cooke and the company would be reviewing her case.

Monica McCormack, a spokeswoman for Tesco Personal Finance, confirmed that it was the company's policy to ask for receipts.

"Like many other travel insurers we ask for receipts when customers make a claim on their travel insurance for lost or stolen items. We do take a commonsense approach to this and this is what's happening in Mrs Cooke's case."

Lyndsay Scanlan