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Petitioning Andy Briggs
Friends Life (@FriendsLifeTalk): Pay out Nic Hughes' critical illness policy #NicsFight
Petition by
Kester Brewin
London, United Kingdom
Nic was my best friend. He was a hugely talented guy, a fantastic dad and a loving husband. Nic died of cancer in October aged just 44 years old.
Instead of focusing on his family in his last few months of life, he was forced to spend it battling his life insurance firm Friends Life over his critical illness policy. Despite declaring all previous illnesses, conditions Friends Life cancelled his policy. Nic was convinced that he had given them full disclosure and that when they offered him the policy, they had done their checks. To put it simply, he died of cancer, but they refused to pay over pins and needles. His consultant is outraged at the way Friends Life have treated Nic, and has written to Friends Life, saying: "I think it cruel and highly distasteful that two irrelevant details from his medical history have been used as some sort of pretext to deny him a payment on his critical illness policy."
This has left his wife and kids inheriting a needless battle. Nic was unsure of how this battle would turn out - but I want to try and win it in his memory.
That’s why I’ve started a petition on Change.org demanding that Friends Life pay Nic’s family the money they are owed.
This petition won’t bring Nic back. But it could make a real difference to his family’s future. Please join me in telling Friends Life to do the right thing.
You can read more about this case here in The Observer . The Daily Mail have covered it too.
Stephen Fry, Russell Brand, Margaret Atwood, Miranda Hart, Ian Botham and Boy George, Alistair Campbell and Kirsty Gallacher have all tweeted about it too, as have many many others, reaching 10's of millions of followers.
Please sign to help change minds - people not profits. You can like our page on Facebook to get more updates, and find actions you can take on our website.
Thank you so much.
Thank you for your support so far - almost 50,000 signatures in five days is incredible and Nic's family has been blown away by the support they've received.
In this season of goodwill we want to keep running a positive and hopeful campaign.
Some of Nic's friends have designed a Christmas card for you to send to Friends Life, reminding them of their roots as a company founded to help the bereaved family of a teacher*.
Please send this card to Friends Life and ask them to do the right thing this Christmas.
You can download the card here and then;
- Email the card to them
- Share it on Twitter
- Or even better send it in the post -- Royal Mail can't be filtered by IT departments!
Over the weekend the pressure has been building as more celebrities have announced their support and the media have been picking up on how fast the campaign has grown including in The Observer and Daily Mail.
Nic's family have invited the CEO to meet and discuss ending this dispute now without the need for further protracted legal processes. But Friends Life seem intent on prolonging the family's uncertainty.
We want Friends Life to remember their roots and do the right thing by responding to this invitation and bringing a resolution before Christmas.
Please send Friends Life this Christmas card and urge them to do the right thing for the Hughes family.
Thank you,
Kester
PS. Once you've sent the Christmas card, you can find more ways to help the #NicsFight campaign here.
PPS. If this story has made you think again about your Friends Life policy please let me know by emailing nicsfight@gmail.com or posting on our Facebook page.
*Friends Life was founded in 1832 by Quakers who wanted to help the family of a teacher who had died -- yet 180 years on they are refusing to support the bereaved family of Nic, who was a teacher himself.
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might be nice for Nic's wife and kids to see how many people want justice for their dad!
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