I'm not sure if anyone can offer me any advice but just in case I thought I should ask.

I have been backpacking around Asia for the past year and 6 months into my trip someone stole my bag. Now that I'm home I sent off the claim with the police report saying exactly what was in the bag with the value etc. I also sent them all the receipts of the things I had to buy to replace what was in the bag. Now obviously, I was backpacking for 6 months and so most of the things in my bag I had bought on my trip and therefore didn't have the original receipts for. So now my insurer is saying they can't reimburse me for the replacement things.

I bought backpackers insurance and wouldn't anyone assume that backpackers can't carry around receipts of everything they buy just in case their bag gets stolen?

Is there anything I can do? There was £1000 limit to how much I could claim and I only claimed about £450... I'm not trying to cheat them and just think they are being unfair.

You need to check the conditions in the policy.

It is unusual for an insurer to get away with requiring you to have recipts for the original items lost - who keeps all their receipts?! But they may well expect two things:

1. that you inform them before replacing items - you could have done this by phone from anywhere in the world as they typically have reverse charge numbers (my annual insurance does)
2. that you have the original receipts for everything you replaced

If you cannot come to agreement with your insurer and you believe you satisfied the conditions in the contract, contact the Insurance Ombudsman.