by jqm | Nov 30, 2022 | Latest News
Whilst the world of nightclub insurance focus on somewhat unlikely but possible risks that could face people enjoying a night out, there are some situations considered so overwhelmingly unlikely that one could not imagine a policy being made for them.
And yet, a fast food restaurant chain did indeed take out “taco insurance” in 2001 that covered them in the unlikely event that a space station crashed on a 40-foot by 40-foot target in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.
Whilst context might not provide too much benefit, it is important to at least try to explain this bizarre set of circumstances.
In 2001, the Space Station Mir was set to return to Earth after 15 years in space, during which time the Soviet Union had collapsed and the world had changed entirely, entering a new millennium having stayed out in space three times longer than it should have.
The deorbiting program came about because the International Space Station programme was the focus of a new Russia, and left them without any money to keep supporting the old station.
Before the final reentry on 23rd March 2001, Taco Bell, a fast food chain known for Mexican cuisine, constructed a target in the South Pacific, over the projected reentry site, with the words “Free Taco Here” written in big purple letters.
If any part of the station hit the target, Taco Bell would give every person in the United States a free taco.
They were confident it wouldn’t, but to cover the millions of dollars of free tacos they would need to pay out, Taco Bell set up a very unusual bespoke insurance policy, the likes of which have never been seen before and may well never be seen again.
Ultimately, the policy was not needed as Mir landed nowhere near the target’s location, but as a consolation prize, the chain did offer tacos for less than a dollar.
by jqm | Nov 13, 2022 | Home Insurance
The hospitality industry is about to head into its busiest season of the year, with Brits hitting the town in their droves for their Christmas celebrations over the next few weeks.
Therefore, it is essential that businesses have adequate hospitality insurance in place to protect themselves.
The type of cover and amount you insure the business against will depend on the type of premises you run, such as a pub, bar, hotel, restaurant, or café. For instance, anywhere serving food and drink needs to have product liability insurance in place, as this protects against the possibility of causing harm to customers through something they have consumed on site.
While the last couple of years have seen people miss out on their Christmas work dos and festive nights out with their friends as a result of Covid-19, this could mean the turnout for 2022 is bigger than ever.
As many as 45 per cent of people cancelled their Christmas night-out plans last year due to the spread of Omicron, so bars, pubs and restaurants are as keen to drum up business as people are to celebrate the festive season.
Back when Christmas parties were in full swing, they could often get messy, with one in ten resulting in a punch-up, and more than a quarter of attendees having to leave early due to being too drunk.
This acts as a reminder to have as much insurance in place as possible to cover for broken fixtures and fittings, injuries, and damage to electronic equipment.
For nightclub insurance, take a look here.
by jqm | Oct 24, 2022 | Business Insurance Blog
There are an almost incalculable number of available insurance policies, and the wide variety allows for different risk profiles and policies to be tailored for individual circumstances.
For example, nightclub insurance would require a different type of coverage from an off-licence because of the range of risks involved in a building where alcohol is sold and drunk, as opposed to a shop where it is sold but not drunk.
However, there are some particular niche circumstances where a very specific type of policy needs to be written, and a considerable number of them involve a particular part of someone’s body, almost always a celebrity.
These have included over the years the walrus moustache of Australian cricketer Merv Hughes, the teeth of the late comedian Ken Dodd, the legs of several actors and dancers, the vocal cords of many singers and the taste buds of a famed food critic.
The reasons for these have varied considerably depending on how long the policy lasted and the nature of the celebrity involved.
One example of this was the famed hair of NFL defensive player Troy Polamalu, who had his three-foot-long hair insured with the help of Proctor & Gamble, the owners of the Head & Shoulders shampoo brand he was endorsing at the time.
In other cases, a celebrity’s considerable income is seen to be directly related to a particular part of their body, such as a singer’s distinctive voice or the legs of a dancer or athlete.
Pat McAfee, a kicker in the NFL, had his legs insured by Lloyds of London on the last year of his contract, to ensure that in the event he was injured and forced to retire, he could cash out.
In other cases, it is a show of support for a particular cause. The carpools for the vehicles involved in the Montgomery bus boycott that protested against racial segregation were insured by Lloyds of London in case they were damaged.
by jqm | Oct 11, 2022 | Business Insurance Blog
Insurance companies need to be flexible and develop tailored policies to suit a wide range of industries.
Engineering insurance, for example, needs to be a more comprehensive set of policies that protect not only from injury, damage and losses caused by equipment failure, but also professional liability for designers to ensure they are covered in case something goes wrong.
Whilst there are some insurance claims that are more common than others, in some cases there are real insurance claims that would be seen as too bizarre to include in a film and yet ultimately were paid out.
Here are some of the oddest.
Just Desserts
It goes without saying that custard and electronics do not mix, and one particular claimant found out the hard way when her phone dropped out of her hand and became sunk into the viscous yellow liquid.
When she finally fished it out, the phone shockingly refused to turn back on, forcing her to make a claim for a replacement.
Mo-Bovine
In another mobile phone related claim, a Devon farmer helped one of his pregnant cows during labour, but after the calf was born was struggling to find his expensive smartphone.
It turned out to be in the new mother herself, and the insurance company, presumably not wanting to ask any more invasive questions about the misplaced device, paid the claim in full.
Lather, Rinse And Refuel
Car insurance claims involving the fuel tank are surprisingly common, particularly if they have a diesel car and accidentally refuel with unleaded. It can cause major damage to the car, from causing parts to seize up and for vital engine components to corrode away.
However, one unlucky driver had it even worse when she accidentally poured a bottle of shampoo into the tank, which naturally necessitated a claim with her presumably baffled provider.
by jqm | Sep 30, 2022 | Latest News
Most of the businesses an insurance underwriter will work with have unique needs, and whilst a lot of standard policies will apply for the vast majority of businesses such as employer’s liability insurance, others will need to be more tailored to a particular industry.
For example, security insurance can take a variety of forms, from injury and building insurance to professional liability insurance that helps cover consultants in case they make a costly mistake.
However, for unusual personalities and unusual professions, even more unorthodox policies need to be devised by organisations such as Lloyd’s of London, which cover very specific features or cover an exceptionally unlikely occurrence.
Here are just a few examples.
The Killing Joke
An old saying claims that laughter is the best medicine, but one comedy theatre troupe was either particularly confident or wanted to protect themselves as much as possible, so they took out a
Lloyd’s policy protecting them from liability in case a member of their audience died of laughter.
Whilst there have been cases of people literally dying of laughter, most famously a man by the name of Alex Mitchell from King Lynn who died during an episode of the Goonies, it is exceptionally unlikely and typically factors are involved.
A Demon’s Tongue
In the 1970s, one of the biggest bands in the world was the outlandish face-painted rock group KISS, who thrived on showmanship and portraying very larger-than-life characters.
However, whilst Peter “The Catman” Criss, Ace “The Spaceman” Frehley and Paul “The Starchild” Stanley” had more down-to-earth insurance policies, Gene Simmons believed that his long tongue was so important to The Demon character he portrayed that he needed to cover it to the value of over £1m.
Sadly this policy did not cover the career damage caused by the tongue-in-cheek film KISS Meets The Phantom Of The Park.
The Colossal Tussle
One of the few policies Lloyd’s of London refuses to give out anymore is to protect the bodies of professional wrestlers in case of serious injury.
The reason for this was due to so many wrestlers retiring as the result of a career-ending injury, cashing in on the policy before returning to wrestling, with Ric Flair perhaps being the worst offender for retiring and returning before his final match in 2022.
by jqm | Sep 21, 2022 | Latest News
People take out insurance policies because they want the peace of mind that even if the worst-case scenario comes to pass, they will at least have the resources to start to rebuild or do what they can to be okay.
This is also true for businesses, as security insurance plans are in place to protect businesses and security officers from insurmountable losses.
In some cases, these claims can total a considerable amount of money, and with that in mind, here are some of the largest insurance payouts ever claimed in the UK.
Mr Bean Crashes A Priceless Supercar
The legendary comedian Rowan Atkinson is known for many iconic roles, including Blackadder, Mr Bean and Johnny English. However, he is also one of the UK’s biggest petrolheads, which proved to be an exceptionally costly pursuit of his in 2011.
Mr Atkinson is the owner of one of the fastest cars ever made, the McLaren F1, with a top speed of 230 miles per hour, and a car that was the centrepiece of a collection that includes Aston Martins, the Honda NSX and several other rare cars.
He has, in fact, only crashed the McLaren F1 twice. The first was in a collision with a Rover Metro in 1999 which required substantial repairs, but the much bigger crash happened in August 2011, when he wrapped the supercar around a tree.
The car caught fire and the vehicle was almost completely destroyed, ultimately requiring a year to be repaired, leading to an insurance payout of £910,000, by far the largest single car insurance payout in British history.
Before Mr Atkinson’s crash, the largest ever insurance payout for a car accident was to an unnamed and unfortunate owner of a Pagani Zonda supercar, which when loaned out to an unnamed driver spun out of control, hit a telegraph pole and smashed through a fence.
The damage was worth £300,000, over half the cost of the car itself, as it was sent back to Italy to be repaired.
The Floods Of 2012
One of the wettest years on record was 2012 when the UK and Ireland were hit by a near-constant series of storms and downpours. Because these storms hit just after a drought, the dry ground could not cope with the rainfall which lead to increased flooding than normal.
Over 500,000 people, from homeowners, to motorists to business directors, made insurance claims for weather and flood damage, with the overall payout estimated to have exceeded £1.33bn and tragically claiming the lives of at least nine people.
This was the biggest flood insurance payout since the major floods of 2007 and led to changes in how flood insurance works in the UK.
West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust 2018 Medical Negligence Case
The highest ever medical negligence payout came from a tragic series of circumstances where a six-year-old boy contracted a virus that caused a serious brain injury.
The child, not named in the case, contracted the herpes virus at Watford General Hospital, which caused a brain fever that was not treated for two days, causing damage to his brain that has led to communication difficulties, damaged eyesight, limitations to movement and cognitive function as well as behavioural issues.
The child will receive a lump sum payout as well as annual tax-free and index-linked payments to ensure that he receives the 24-hour care he needs for the rest of his life, which was estimated to be worth more than £37m.
by jqm | Sep 10, 2022 | Latest News
New images have been published of a pub owned by two cricketers undergoing extensive reconstruction after suffering a fire in July.
The Tap and Run in Melton, owned by England cricket star Stuart Broad and his Nottinghamshire team-mate Harry Gurney, was devastated by a blaze in July that left only the walls standing.
Leicestershire Live reported that the new pictures, published on social media, showed the full extent of the task ahead, as the structure has had to be stripped bare before a full rebuild can take place.
The incident received plenty of coverage due to the famous nature of its owners, but it is also a reminder to many pub owners that their buildings can be at a high risk from fire due to the flammable materials used in their construction.
Thatched pub insurance is vital for anyone who has such a roof on their pub, as this can be at particular risk, while timber frames and other wooden elements like bars and furniture can add to the risk, meaning the damage can be worse and more than just the building can be wrecked by a fire.
According to Mr Gurney the blaze, which was believed to have been accidental, left a £1 million repair and rebuild bill, showing why buildings of this kind need to be insured to make reconstruction work affordable, especially if it is not owned by a large chain.
Although summer has now officially ended according to the Met Office, which regards September 1st as the beginning of Autumn, the severe hot weather of the season and the impact of climate change has highlighted the dangers of fires occurring not just on dry areas of moorland, but actually engulfing villages and areas on the edge of towns and cities.
On the hottest day on record in the UK, when temperatures topped 40 degrees C for the first time, the village of Wennington on the edge of London suffered a blaze that engulfed several houses. While no pub was involved in this fire, it was an example of how vulnerable buildings can be in heatwaves.
by jqm | Aug 31, 2022 | Latest News
At its core, insurance is about preparing for the risk against potential loss, whether that takes the form of nightclub insurance preparing for the risk that something goes wrong in the establishment during an evening, or against the risk of a car breaking down or crashing.
The world of insurance can be particularly broad, as the more esoteric policies provided by establishments such as Lloyd’s of London prove.
However, if anything could possibly be stranger than insurance policies, that would be the huge number of bizarre true stories of people making claims on their insurance for the more unique reasons possible.
Here are just a few of the strangest.
Motivating Or Liable?
Professional liability insurance is a scheme that many professionals have if they are in a position to give advice. What it does is provide coverage in case their advice goes wrong and leads to a rather costly or painful mistake.
This happened in the case of one unfortunate motivational speaker. After asking a member of the audience to break a board with their hands, they managed to injure themselves, leading to a quick call to their insurance agent to ensure they could be easily compensated.
The Flames Of Passion
When people get married, it is sometimes common to get a form of wedding insurance that covers all types of scenarios from an “I don’t” at the altar to a sudden injury or illness at the reception.
One of the most unusual cases of this happening was during an otherwise beautiful beachside wedding, which was spoiled somewhat by the bride’s flowing dress catching fire.
The groom, thinking quickly, picked her up and threw her into the ocean to put it out, which may have put a dampener on the occasion.
The Dumbest Fraud That Ever Worked
In an example of insurance fraud so stupid that it is amazing it ever worked and will never work again, a severe hailstorm in a small town in the American Midwest gave a man a terrible idea.
He filed an insurance claim saying that the hail was an “act of god” that damaged his car in the storm.
The problem was that unless hailstones contain tiny hammers, it was clear that someone had simply taken a hammer to the car to pretend that hailstones had done it.
When faced with the truth, the man somehow doubled down and claimed that an attacker had, for reasons unknown, attacked the car with a hammer and beaten hundreds of divots into it.
Somehow, despite assessors having a pretty good idea who did it, because there was no proof the man had taken a hammer to his own car, the insurance company did pay out.
A Tragicomic Triumvirate
It is rare to see three claims arise from the very same slight accident, but one unfortunate driver managed to have an exceptionally rotten run of luck when he had a minor collision.
After rear-ending the car in front, he tried to back away only to hit the bumper of the car behind him. Clearly already feeling a bit shaken, he opened the door to step out of the car, only to bump into and knock over a cyclist.
Whilst an incredible comedy routine in hindsight, in the moment it must have been difficult to see the funny side.
by jqm | Aug 18, 2022 | Insurance
There are lots of things to think about before becoming a landlord, from finding a property in the right area, marketing it successfully to the target tenants, and making sure it passes health and safety standards. Something else to also bear in mind when letting out a residence is having a comprehensive landlords’ insurance policy.
Perhaps the most important thing this type of cover protects against is damage to the property. If the building was destroyed or uninhabitable due to a fire, flooding, or vandalism, not only would the owner lose a substantial amount of money in the value of the property, but they would also lose their monthly income. Therefore, having protection in these events is essential, otherwise they could be left heavily out of pocket.
It is also worth having landlord insurance so any damage to the contents of the home, such as appliances, inbuilt furniture, fixtures, and fittings, are covered. Landlords can find themselves having to spend a lot on maintaining the property or repairing faults, so it is wise to have a policy that covers these incidences, as bills can quickly stack up.
Perhaps more concerning is the risk of tenants blaming property owners should they become injured or incur an accident while living in the residence. Landlords could be found liable for these incidences and be forced to pay a significant amount of money in compensation. Therefore, insurance would protect them, preventing their bank balances from being hit as a result.
This comes after Mortgage Strategy revealed 48 per cent of landlords are considering taking out insurance to protect their income, as the cost-of-living crisis means tenants could struggle to pay their rent. This covers any lost rent due to an empty property or failure of tenants to pay their monthly fees.
For business insurance near me, get in touch with us today.
by jqm | Aug 4, 2022 | Latest News
The heatwave has been an enjoyable experience for many this summer, but it has also brought a range of major concerns.
Apart from assessments of the longer-term implications for climate change and the immediate concerns about drought in large parts of the country, there is also the risk of wildfires.
Often these are events that occur on moorland, damaging wildlife habitats but being safely out of the way of homes and commercial buildings. However, the extreme heat has extended this risk, so that some fires may occur much nearer to properties and put them at risk.
Greater Manchester business insurance customers might not have reason to worry if they are in built-up areas, but the situation may be different towards the edge of the conurbation, especially close to fields and moorland. Here, having cover against fire damage is vital.
Across the Pennines in West Yorkshire, the dangers of wildfires are all too apparent. Speaking to the BBC, firefighter and wildlife officer at West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service Richard Hawley called the challenge facing crews this year “unprecedented”.
He added: “It changes on a minute by minute basis. One minute they are knee-high, the next they are above your head. It is one of the most arduous fires our crews face.”
All this can threaten rural business premises, such as farms, tourism premises, cafes and holiday lets. Farms may be particularly threatened, with Richard Lockyer, Gloucestershire Fire and Rescue group manager, telling the BBC the county has seen 34 wildfires on farmland so far this year, compared with just two in 2021.
Even edge-of-town areas can be affected by fires. In the July heatwave, the village of Wennington on the fringes of London was devastated by a blaze that spread from a garden to engulf and destroy several properties.
The latest Met Office heat warning revealed that the hot spell will soon break dramatically in many places as electrical storms roll in.
That may bring some much-needed rain, but that could also cause new perils for businesses, as the hard-baked ground will not easily absorb a sudden deluge of water, making flash flooding a significant risk for many.
