A FLOOD-hit family in South Marston are still facing £20,000 of debt almost two years after they were forced out of their homes, because their insurance company has still not paid out.

Chris and Rae-Marie Bowdidge were forced to flee their Greenfields home, which had recently been fitted with a new bathroom, with their five children when the village was hit by severe flooding in June 2007.

After a week of staying with relatives they were put up at the Marriott Hotel. Their stay was arranged by Tesco Home Insurance, through its claims management company, UK Assistance.

But after seven weeks the insurance company stopped paying for the hotel.

Rae-Marie said: “We were there for seven weeks and then one day at breakfast they said ‘I understand you’re checking out today’. We said it was the first we had heard of it and they told us our insurers hadn’t renewed the booking and they had already filled the room.

“We rang UK Assistance and they said ‘call us on Monday’. We were left stranded with five kids and nowhere to go.”

The family eventually found another hotel and began the soon-to-be-familiar process of putting everything on their credit card in the hope it would eventually be paid back.

They later rented a house in Highworth while their South Marston home was refurbished.

The work was completed last August, but the family has been unable to pay the builders, and now face the prospect of possible legal action from them.

Chris said: “I can understand the position they are in. If I had the money I would give it to them but until we get our cheques there’s nothing I can do.”

Since the family moved back into their home they have footed the bills for all refurbishment, leaving them with a heavy credit load. Although some cheques have arrived from the insurance firm they are still waiting for £20,000, plus £2,800 for the builders, with no clear indication of when it will arrive.

Rae-Marie said: “We have to get on with life and this is making it so much more difficult. We are both working full time and we have five kids. We’re just so tired of worrying about this.

“We’re not asking for anything we are not owed. We were flooded, we were insured, so we can’t see why there should be so many problems.”

Chris said: “Perhaps we are naive, but we took out insurance as we believed it would make any disaster a more bearable experience. The reality is that the problem has been compounded and worsened, not alleviated.”

The Adver contacted Tesco Home Insurance for a comment but at the time of going to print had received no reply.