Insurance

Insurance on the river

also see Minibus licensing and insurance for getting to and from the river

Insurance is quite dull, but very important - this page explains the different types of cover, why you might need them, and whether you automatically have them as a member of the club. This is not, however, legal advice written by a lawyer - if you're unsure, you should verify for yourself!

The first, and most important, thing to note is that if you are:

1. a member of the Students' Union, and
2. a current member of the Athletic Union (if you started Uni from autumn 2007 this means you have to have paid your yearly AU subs), and
3. a member of SUCC, and
4. paddling a club boat

then you're automatically covered for everything you need. This should include most freshers - so you guys have nothing to worry about! By all means read on, but as already mentioned, it's quite dull...

Relevant types of insurance cover

• Personal accident insurance covers you if you damage yourself
• Boat and kit insurance covers your gear
• Public liability insurance is the most confusing, but in some ways the most important. It covers you for any damage you may accidentally cause to someone, or something, else. If you damage yourself or your own kit it's your choice as to whether you claim; but if you damage someone else or their property you have no influence as to whether they hold you liable. Eeek!

What cover do you have?

All these types of insurance can be bought by a private individual through insurance brokers, or through association with e.g. the BCU. Here, however, we focus on insurance you may have through your membership of, or association with, SUCC.

Personal accident insurance

If you are:

1. a member of the Students' Union, and
2. a paid up member of the Athletic Union, and
3. a member of SUCC

then you are covered by the BUSA Personal Accident plan.

Boat insurance

If you have paid (via SUCC) for your canoe or kayak to be added to the Athletic Union Smallcraft Policy then your boat and kit will have cover as detailed on the boat insurance page.

Public liability insurance

To quote advice from the Students' Union:

It should be borne in mind that any wanton or reckless action may very well leave the perpetrator open to criminal or civil action, and may also invalidate the insurance cover. [The club is covered] whilst engaging in any legitimate AU activity. Essentially, this cover relates to negligence or any other action(s) committed by AU members of the canoe club for which they are found to be legally liable, in law. It is sometimes a difficult concept but, essentially, if a member of your club does something that causes, for example, injury or damage to a third party, and which could be demonstrated as their fault, the insurance policy would 'kick in'. If it was not their fault the 'incident' would not be covered. The logic being that if it was not their fault, no blame can be attached and so no insurance would be required!

Ok, so that's the disclaimer. Unfortunately, whether you're covered is equally slippery...

If you are:

1. a member of the Students' Union, and
2. a paid up member of the Athletic Union, and
3. a member of SUCC

then on dry land you are covered by the Athletic Union public liability insurance (the "combined policy"). Obviously, many of the activities of a canoe club aren't on dry land.

So in addition if you:

1. are a member of the Students' Union, and
2. are a paid up member of the Athletic Union, and
3. are a member of SUCC, and
4. you have AU boat insurance through their Smallcraft Policy

then you have public liability insurance on the water but only for the boat(s) listed on the Smallcraft Policy. If, for example, you have two boats, but only one is insured through the AU policy, then you only have public liability cover on the water if you are paddling the insured boat. If you do not have AU boat insurance, you do not automatically have public liability insurance on the water.

All club boats are listed on the smallcraft policy. Personal boats must be added at the request of the owner.

If you have personal BCU membership then this comes with public liabilty insurance specicifally to cover you when paddling (the club is not currently affiliated to the BCU).