A-lot(ment) of Insurance
It seems that those who tend allotments are being forced to purchase Public Liability insurance, to provide £5m of cover for any third party who may injure themselves whilst on said allotment and decide to sue.
For those outside of the UK who may not know what an allotment is, it is a small piece of land (very very small) that you grow, alongside your fellow allotmenters, your own vegetables. This was started during World War 2, when people were encouraged to grow their own food to help beat the shortages. Since then it has remained as an English tradition.
The annual rent on allotments is basically nothing (about £10 per year). The allotmenters (yes I'm sure there is a correct word, but it is not in my vocabulary) spend money on seeds, and then much time growing them. The reckoning is that they reap about £500 of food from the £50 they sow.
Adding £50 of seeds to a rent of £10 gives a profit of £440 for your year's efforts in growing fresh, healthy food. Adding an insurance bill of £400 makes the whole thing rather pointless.
Who is going to be seriously injured on a patch of earth and radishes? Health and Safety gone mad. If I owned an allotment I'd booby trap it anyway, to stop thieving gits from nicking my best potatoes. Surely it's trespassing if they're not supposed to be there anyway?
Chalk up another one for common sense...
For those outside of the UK who may not know what an allotment is, it is a small piece of land (very very small) that you grow, alongside your fellow allotmenters, your own vegetables. This was started during World War 2, when people were encouraged to grow their own food to help beat the shortages. Since then it has remained as an English tradition.
The annual rent on allotments is basically nothing (about £10 per year). The allotmenters (yes I'm sure there is a correct word, but it is not in my vocabulary) spend money on seeds, and then much time growing them. The reckoning is that they reap about £500 of food from the £50 they sow.
Adding £50 of seeds to a rent of £10 gives a profit of £440 for your year's efforts in growing fresh, healthy food. Adding an insurance bill of £400 makes the whole thing rather pointless.
Who is going to be seriously injured on a patch of earth and radishes? Health and Safety gone mad. If I owned an allotment I'd booby trap it anyway, to stop thieving gits from nicking my best potatoes. Surely it's trespassing if they're not supposed to be there anyway?
Chalk up another one for common sense...
posted by Nej at
2:51 pm
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home