My home burned down whereas I used to be on vacation – after I bought again my insurer claimed I’d been operating a secret hashish farm!

A great-grandfather has finally won a two-year battle against his insurers over a payout after his house burned to the ground.

John Rodger, an 88-year-old former businessman, insists he ‘just wants something to leave my kids, as everyone does’ after the blaze destroyed his home while he was holidaying on the Mediterranean island of Gozo.

While waiting for money to rebuild the two-bed wooden detached home in rural Norfolk, which burned down in February 2023, he has been living in a shed at the site and has cleared much of the wrecked building himself.

The pensioner, who still enjoys gardening and playing bridge at his local social club, refuses to move in with relatives because he wants to retain his independence.

Advantage Insurance disputed his claim for a payout because a fire service report found the property may have been equipped as a cannabis farm – an idea dismissed by John as a ‘complete joke’.

The widower – whose wife of 52 years, Anne, died in 2011 aged 72 – took his battle to the Financial Ombudsman.

After initially rejecting Mr Rodger’s challenge, in January it provisionally upheld the complaint and recommended Advantage pay out up to £415,000 to rebuild the house. Now the decision has been made final in a notice sent out last week.

In her provisional report, Ombudsman Alison Gore writes: ‘There was a period of around four weeks before the fire started where the property was unoccupied. 

‘So-called “cannabis farms” can be set up relatively quickly by experienced criminals, so it is possible that the set-up took place within that time by persons unknown.’

Ms Gore says she was ‘not satisfied’ the insurer had acted ‘fairly’ and adds: ‘I’m not satisfied that Advantage has persuasively established that [he] was involved in or, had any knowledge of, the alleged cannabis cultivation.’

John, who is physically fit despite his advanced years, says he believes his insurers were ‘hoping he dies’ to avoid paying.

It was in early January 2023 when John flew out to Gozo for some winter sun and to spend time with friends who live on the island. Three weeks later, he received a phone call from his son Stuart who broke the news of the devastating blaze.

‘I was in shock and could barely get out of bed for the next few days. I’d lost everything,’ he recalls.

Reassured by his son that there was nothing to salvage after the blaze and that he could finish his break in Gozo, he contacted his insurer when he flew back ten days later.

‘I initially stayed with a friend in Cambridge while my shed was made habitable.

‘But after six months of living in the shed, and when my insurance claim was turned down, I got a solicitor involved who went to the ombudsman.’

John, who bought the property with his late wife in the 1990s, was also critical of how long it took the ombudsman to make a decision, saying: ‘The ombudsman originally took 14 months to reject my claim and then when my lawyers appealed, it’s taken them another five months to make a provisional decision in my favour. I was then still waiting, with no final decision until now.’

After receiving the decision last week, he adds: ‘It’s about time. I won’t believe it until it happens and I see the money. Don’t count your chickens before they’re hatched.’

The pensioner categorically denies the cannabis factory theory, saying: ‘The house was made of wood covered with years of creosote and burnt to the brick foundations, which are just two feet high. 

They saw a few pots and bits of horticultural equipment and must have just jumped to conclusions. The neighbours knew that I was living there.

‘They would have seen me driving to the supermarket or social club each day and watched me pottering around in the garden. I also used to bring their wheelie bins in from the road when I took in my bin. It’s a lovely quiet spot but not completely isolated.

‘The idea that I had a cannabis farm there is a complete joke. I was growing acorns and some chilli plants in pots so maybe they somehow got confused. They just don’t want to pay out. I think they’re hoping I die.’ The ombudsman’s report found the cannabis factory theory came from a report by Norfolk Fire and Rescue.

Ms Gore says: ‘The report from the Fire Brigade noted that there were remains of high-powered lamps, soil and plant material and that there was no evidence the main building had been habitable.

‘It stated the police had concluded it was likely cannabis had been grown at the property but due to the intensity of the fire no plant samples were available to be tested.

‘The fire report also commented that an illegal connection to an electricity cable underground was present by a Portakabin at the rear of the property.’

However, the ombudsman accepted a bill from a credit card John used, belonging to one of his son’s companies, which showed him spending money most nights at the social club, as proof he lived in the property.

Speaking of his drawn-out battle with Advantage, a subsidiary of Hastings, Mr Rodger – who has three grown-up sons: businessman Robin, 64; Stuart, 60, a builder and garage owner; and Ivan, 56, an artist – said: ‘I came home to find my house was little more than a pile of ashes.

‘I tried to stay positive and thought I’ll just have to get my home rebuilt and carry on with my life. But it became very clear early on that Hastings had no intention of paying out. 

‘They sent investigators who were asking me ridiculous questions and even suggesting that I was in the country when the fire happened.

‘They started saying that there was a cannabis farm at my house and that I had illegally hooked up the electricity to a Portakabin and that had started the fire.

‘I’ve asked Hastings to show me any proof of cannabis being grown and where the illegal electricity hook-up was meant to be but nobody seems to have a jot of evidence. Everyone has mobile phones with cameras on these days. Surely someone must have a photo of something.’

With no payout and no home other than his shed, Mr Rodgers says that during the recent cold weather, he returned to Gozo to stay with his friend during the winter months.

John’s solicitor, Martin Richardson, of Richardson Hartley Law, said the ongoing delays were simply unacceptable.

He added: ‘We flagged with Hastings and then the ombudsman that Mr Rodger was a vulnerable man in his late 80s and that urgent action needed to be taken to resolve the situation.

‘The idea that Mr Rodger has a cannabis farm at his home is risible. We also haven’t been shown one piece of evidence to suggest this is true.’

Mr Richardson said of the victory in John’s case: ‘We can’t give him back the two years of his life in which he has been forced to live in a shed.’

The Financial Ombudsman said it cannot comment on individual cases.

Hastings, which has the option of challenging the ombudsman’s decision via judicial review, was approached for comment.