Cost of cancelling a Grand Prix plus illness costs not covered
Event insurers are refusing to cover a swine flu pandemic putting major sporting events at risk, according to the Telegraph.
That could mean organisers facing costs £10m for illness, plus expensive cancellation fees - cancelling a Grand Prix, is estimated to cost around £25m, while aborting major festivals, such as Glastonbury, could set organisers back by up to £15m.
Adrian Thomas, executive director of the contingency team at Aon, said: "It will be almost impossible to buy insurance to cover swine flu now and it will probably be worse later in the year because flu pandemics are worse in the winter. Its very unlikely that the communicable diseases exclusion will be lifted any time soon.
"If people can't cover themselves for the financial expenses they have got to decide whether they want to go out on a limb and put the event on."
The Tel;egraph also says that some insurers, such as IMS Film and Media Insurance, have only recently introduced a swine flu exclusion clause and say they will be honouring the terms stated in the original contracts for existing policy holders.
But, many companies introduced communicable disease exclusions several years ago.
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