Tales of holiday makers, who turn out not to be covered by their insurance for some of the more exotic activities that they embark upon whilst away, are relatively commonplace but what about risky activities in the home?

With everyone feeling the pinch these days, and the cost of fuel going up and up, some people have decided to take the matter into their own hands and make their own bio-diesel from cooking oil. It’s not, as you may think, illegal. In fact you are permitted to make up to 2500 litres a year without tax consequences, so it can be a real temptation for some.

However, first things first. Before hitting the internet to find out how to start, you should check your home insurance policy. Finding out after an explosion that you have invalidated your policy could be a costly oversight. A man in Northants recently suffered 20% burns after his garage exploded whilst he was making his own bio-fuel from used cooking oil from his Chinese take-away. Having mixed together the oil, caustic soda and ethanol, a stray spark from an electric drill which he was using in the process was responsible in this case, but the risks are manifold.

Most policies include phrases such as "reasonable precautions" and "reasonable steps" which should be taken to prevent accident, injury, loss or damage and this could be called into question should the worst happen and your bio-diesel experiment goes horribly wrong.

The AA estimates that there are 20,000 people in the UK who make their own bio-diesel and the fire authorities in at least one region of the UK have issued warnings about the hazards inherent in the process for those with no knowledge of mixing chemicals.

It’s something that we have all done at some time or other: given a spare house key to a neighbour in case we lock ourselves out or perhaps to a cleaner or plumber to let themselves in when we are out at work.

However, how many of us keep track of just who has our house keys? It seems that forgetting to take them back is commonplace with an estimated one million or more of us not knowing who exactly has our spare keys.

Recent research by Sainsbury’s Home Insurance reveals that the average house has four sets of spare keys, although even this is open to debate since half a million of us have no idea how many spare sets exist for our property.

The most popular keepers of the spare keys seem to be children who now have their own home, with 27% of them still having keys to the family home. Parents or other family members living elsewhere come a close second at 25% and trusted neighbours come third at 11%.

Bottom of the league are estate agents, builders and window cleaners which is perhaps just as well since, should you be burgled and admit to your insurers that every Tom, Dick and Harry in the neighbourhood had access to your house keys, you may well find that your policy is invalidated.

If in doubt it is always safer to have your locks changed although this can be decidedly costly. It is obviously better to keep a close track of who has them and retrieve them as soon as practical.

According to a new study carried out by Gocompare.com, one fifth of homeowners purchase their home insurance from the same company that provided them with their mortgage. This has led to concerns that customers are being pressured by their banks into purchasing insurance from them rather than looking around for a better deal.

The results reveal that whereas 19% of those who purchased their insurance policy from their mortgage lenders did so for quality and value, 12% stated that they felt pressured by the company into making the purchase. A further one third of customers who bought insurance from their mortgage lenders revealed that they did so simply because it was more convenient to take it out with the same company.

Hayley Parsons, chief executive of Gocompare.com, expressed concern at the findings, stating that it was a “worrying sign” of the trends occurring in the present economic climate. Talking in relation to the small margins being made on mortgages, she said that “there can be a danger of pressure selling” on the part of the lenders in order to increase profits, a practice that is not in the best interests of the customer.

Even if the insurance represents a good deal, there should never be any pressure to purchase it from the mortgage lenders. Also, seeing as mortgage lenders only provide insurance from one company, it is not likely to be the most competitive price on the market. The advice to customers is to shop around to find the best deal available, as taking the time to compare prices can lead to large savings without forfeiting on quality.