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Petition to Formally Close Theatres, Restaurants etc


therealting

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Doesn't matter.

 

Association of British Insurers have announced this morning that standard Business Interruption cover does not apply when the business is shut by government action. 

https://www.abi.org.uk/news/news-articles/2020/03/statement-on-business-insurance-and-coronavirus/

 

Basically - if the business didn't tick the box for the add-on that said "Government shutdown" then there is no cover. I can't imagine many businesses bought that extra bit.

 

Insurers are shitheads. They will deny payouts and then still increase the premiums because of this.

 

 

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First action of any insurer is to try and work out how they can avoid paying out.

So many businesses are going to go to the wall as a result of the current situation. Livelihoods (and quite probably lives) lost as consequence of the virus and the government's poor handling of it.

 

Edited by Simon.
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1 hour ago, fretmeister said:

Basically - if the business didn't tick the box for the add-on that said "Government shutdown" then there is no cover. I can't imagine many businesses bought that extra bit.

then it's a bit much to expect the insurers to be paying out for cover that the businesses were offered and chose not to take out

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I run an events business. Today alone, I've had £4k of business cancel. Our business is slow until April every year then improves for the rest of the year. Weve got through to April fine, but if all our bookings for the foreseeable future cancel - through sheer media fear - I really dont know what will happen. 

As above, insurance wont pay. Some have even quoted it being an act of god.

It's not just the venues and their staff that things like this affect, it's also the external suppliers.

Also, people who have Weddings booked etc will lose all their money if the venue wont reschedule, and they havent taken out specialist insurance.

Edited by la bam
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40 minutes ago, Monkey Steve said:

then it's a bit much to expect the insurers to be paying out for cover that the businesses were offered and chose not to take out

Under normal circumstances I'd agree with you.

These are not normal circumstances. I am of course aware that forcing insurers to pay out everything would just move the job losses to the insurance industry away from the arts, but there has to be a middle ground somewhere that allows people to eat and heat our homes.

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10 hours ago, therealting said:

The petition is now being checked, so it may take a little while before people can sign again.

Hmmm, so a petition hosted on a Goverment run website that raises concerns about Goverment decisions has been taken offline "to be checked", for days.

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I'm not signing, it's by no means certain that insurers will pay out even if the Government orders closure, even if the businesses have this type of insurance, if pubs stay open and a few people go for a drink it might just be enough to keep them from going bust and keep a few folk in jobs, if it's ok for kids to go to school it's ok adults to go for a quiet pint, I'm not talking about manic Saturday nights in big cities here but the local, centre of the community, boozer that might never reopen.

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18 hours ago, fretmeister said:

Under normal circumstances I'd agree with you.

These are not normal circumstances. I am of course aware that forcing insurers to pay out everything would just move the job losses to the insurance industry away from the arts, but there has to be a middle ground somewhere that allows people to eat and heat our homes.

forcing insurers to pay out for a risk that they did not insure simply won't happen, nor should it.  If you chose to insure your car for third party only you wouldn't expect to get a pay out if somebody stole it, and it is exactly the same position for this

There is a very good argument for affected businesses to be helped out, and the position seems to be evolving from what the Chancellor said yesterday, but it's not insurers who should be footing the bill for businesses who chose not to cover this

Keep in mind that investments in large insurers will be part of most of our pensions, so it is in all of our interests for insurers to only pay out what they have actually insured

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I deeply regret that anyone will be affected by this development and very much hope that the mitigating measures announced in the last couple of days will support those individuals presented with financial difficulties.

That said, between protecting either the leisure / ents industry or the insurance companies there's just no choice. If the insurance sector were to collapse (and let's face it, the banks nearly did) we'd all be royally f*cked, private individuals, companies and institutions alike.

There are no happy outcomes in a situation like this; we have to hope the shutdown is brief in duration and the bounceback is sustained.

Again, commiserations to those affected :(

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No I won't sign. Who are you to demand that everyone be imprisoned in their homes and that businesses are forced to the wall? The fact is that it's small businesses which will be worst affected. The larger ones will be better placed to live off their reserves (or will have friends in high places who they can ask to protect them - like Branson, who is calling for £billions in state subsidy whilst living in a tax haven and not contributing to the public purse). Nobody has the right to destroy peoples' lives because of their fears.

Edited by Dan Dare
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Heres a response from the insurance company (I believe Aviva but dont quote me) showing just how they weasel out of paying even if you have taken out cover....

"The Business Interruption cover is based on a specified list of diseases and has been since the SARS outbreak in 2003. These policies exclude business interruption due to new and emerging diseases, like COVID-19. Our policy wording clearly identifies the diseases we offer cover for and, in addition, highlights that new and emerging diseases like COVID-19 are not covered."

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