Members need to remember that when you pay your subs in Sept/October you are also signing up for an insurance policy:

This means that the Hon. Treasurer need to have your signed renewal form
He needs it in time because otherwise you are not covered - as with your car insurance. iF YOU HAVE TO CLAIM IT IS TOO LATE TO FILL IN YOUR FORM OR PAY!

LOOK AT IT LIKE your car insurance and you will understand we are not being pernickety!!


Allotment Holders have not had to worry about insurance in the past, but in a claims-conscious age, the Association has felt it necessary to insure members for Public Liability. We are also facing an increase in vandalism and breaking into sheds with loss of tools.  Some sheds have been set on fire, fortunately that was accidental.

SMARTWATER  We negotiated a deep discount with 'Smartwater'.  When you join this scheme you get a phial of what amounts to DNA - you paint a small smear on to the tool, rotavator, mower -or your home valuables too - and if it is stolen, [and the police find it at a car boot sale &c.]they can analyse the Smartater smear and get your name and address off the database, to return your goods.  In London it is proving a real deterrent to crime - get in touch if you want to join in.  [See who's who? page]

Cheapest third party you ever got!!

This old hut is many people's image of allotments. Modern huts attract more attention and may contain expensive tools and machines

The National Society of Allotment & Leisure Gardeners has a very good Public Liability policy for allotment Association members at a very cheap rate for the cover provided.

It covers any claim by a member of the public who has had some sort of accident and/or injury whilst on a Plotholder’s plot. The liability as well as the duty of care rests on the Plotholder, not on the landlord body, and NOT on the Society either..

Claims nowadays could ruin an individual. A recent claim was for a five-figure sum - despite the admitted fact that the claimant was trespassing on the plot concerned.

It would be impossible to get the level of cover on offer at the price outside the scheme, so the insurance cover alone makes the subscription well worth it.

The Allotment Association subscription has to include this extra cost, and the current level of subscription reflects this.

Individual insurance for tools
It is possible that you can insure your tools through your home insurance policy. It is also possible to insure through the Association with "BlueFin" insurance [who took over "Newspace"]  on an individual basis.  Sadly, there have been several thefts of rotavators and even simple hand tools lately, with padlocks cropped off &c.  The gate which the council has installed and provided locks are intended to prevent thieves having vehicular access by day or night to remove stolen goods. No member is safe from this problem, but the gate can be some help.  We ask everyone who has a plot to LOCK the gates all the time. You don't know who the person behind you might be and whether they have a plot or have come to get something to sell at the next Car Boot sale.