Fields with footpaths - do you have liability insurance?

HappyNeds

HappyNeds

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We have a field with our horses in that (unfortunately!) has 2 footpaths crossing it. We have been advised that we should get liability insurance as someone climbing over the stiles or tripping in the field could sue if they hurt themselves (NFU says this can/does happen). We have phoned around abit and it seems very expensive, has anyone else come across this? Is there a good company to get basic liability insurance for land from?

We phoned BHS to see if could be added onto our horse liability insurance, but they don't do it, and NFU only do it if you have your home insurance with them which is expensive.

It seems unfair we need to get this, but now I know this could be a problem I will be worrying in case something goes wrong! (and things do always seem to happen to us!) We can't be the only people with footpaths in our field...just wondered what everyone else does?

Thanks in advance everyone :)
 
I was told on good authority that even if someone was trespassing on your land and injured themselves they could sue you! Ridiculous!
 
I know! It's very frustrating, but just like we have BHS liability insurance for our horses 'just-in-case' something happens, I'm now really worried about this but was hoping someone knew of a company that just sold basic liability insurance at a sensible price.
 
Hi elderlycoupleindevon,
We tried Cornish Mutual Assurance (we found them on the web) but they said they don't cover our area (Gloucestershire), so they were a no go. Thanks though, and glad you've found something that suits in your area
 
Try farmers and mercantile they are very helpful moved our farm insurance rented house and vehicle insurance to them from nfu.
 
I think it is just horrible that you may need to insure yourself for the possibility of being sued for a public footpath accident. I was only ranting on here last week what a potentially terrible idea I think they are ( especially with land that has livestock/horses on it) If someone came on your land via the footpath and let one of your horses loose I suppose you would be liable for that too if it caused an accident? :mad:

Public footpaths should be a municipal responsibility regardless of whos land they cross over. I am not sure I could tolerate hosting one tbh
 
I would have thought the BHS liability would cover it anyway, if you have the land to keep your horses, I understood it covered anything that comes from your ownership of horses (ie if you didn't have the horses you wouldn't have the land). In any case, the local authorities have a budget to cover things like this, they are responsible for the stiles even if you have put them in, provided they are built to the correct standard.

Many household insurances also provide this cover within the policy so have a look at that too if you have it. I actually had a claim for a woman who broke a leg falling over a stile I had built about 8 years ago. The council had provided the materials and the specs it had to be built to, they picked up the bill as I didn't have any sort of insurance at that time. Had the stupid woman been coming off the stile the right way, as in the direction of the footpath, she wouldn't have fallen, because she decided she had a right to walk her dog all the way round the field she tripped on a stone coming off the wrong side.
 
Have you checked with a legal bod? If someone trespassed on private land and hurt themselves, as long as there was a sign up saying beware of the whatever, they could not be sued. If someone chooses to come on your land but you have a sign up at each end saying basically - you walk here but entirely at your own risk - are you covered? or is this different because it is a public footpath. thinking about it, you always see signs in public car parks saying you have parked at own risk? I would ask the question in those terms, of a legal and not an insurance body (so CAB?) before I went any further.
 
We have public liability insurance, yes we are a livery yard, but we are also a private home. Even if we did not do livery we would need the public liability incase someone was injured on our land. And we are extremely lucky as we have no public footpaths. But if someone were to tresspass - and then injure themselves on the land then they could sue. if you do some work to your land and someone falls over it then they could sue. We are forever doing building work and maintenance projects so we often have building work and holes in the ground. Anyone could sue you. As Peter Natt says NFU is not expensive. We use them for the farm, land, livery, care and control and public liability and it is a very good value policy. If I had a footpath on my land I would be having the highest level of public liability insurance I could find. Horses are dangerous, and if anyone of the users of the footpath leave a gate open then the potential for damage by the horses is increased dramatically.
 
Hi if it helps I have a public liability policy for my field with KBIS I think it was £260 this year but the thing i like about it is that they do it as a private livery yard policy and provide cover for my mobile permanent building+ tack and carriage equipment stored there inclusive. This covers theft , damage and fire.

Possibly if you have buildings and or store tack equipment there mini tractor etc maybe it might be cheaper than having it on horse insurance.
 
Thanks for all the comments guys, really appreciate it. Just a few things we've found in our research: BHS liability would only cover if while someone crosses the footpath they were kicked by one of the horses, it wouldn't cover if they tried to sue because they tripped on uneven ground or on the stiles (we phoned them to check!).

Home insurance legal expenses should cover the legal expenses - but not the liability for any settlement or claim if we did have to pay out to anyone.

NFU insurance is just over twice the amount we currently pay for our home insurance - but they do this 'land away from home liability cover' very reasonably, although you have to have our home insurance with them in order to get the land liability cover. However, PeterNatt, I do see your point, as all the other quotes we have got to far for stand alone land liability insurance are significantly more expensive than NFU (the latest quote just come in from aba Insurance is £484!!!).

I guess we were just hoping there would be a basic land liability policy for a very reasonable sum, a bit like the BHS horse liability insurance at £59.
I think the problem is with most other companies it's almost business liability insurance, as if we were running a farm or something, and that makes it more expensive.

Thanks janeprince, I will give KBIS a call now and see what they come up with, I will let you know how I get on...
 
Luci07 said:
Have you checked with a legal bod? If someone trespassed on private land and hurt themselves, as long as there was a sign up saying beware of the whatever, they could not be sued. If someone chooses to come on your land but you have a sign up at each end saying basically - you walk here but entirely at your own risk - are you covered? or is this different because it is a public footpath. thinking about it, you always see signs in public car parks saying you have parked at own risk? I would ask the question in those terms, of a legal and not an insurance body (so CAB?) before I went any further.
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Signs of this nature aren't worth the ink used to print them. The reason being that putting one up does not negate the need for due diligence. Businesses use them as a deterrent to those wishing to sue. Sueing is based on negligence i.e. the fact that something could have been done to avoid the accident, but wasn't.

OP, is the land your own, or rented? If the latter, it's up to the landowner to have PL insurance. You would only need PL in this case for incidents concerning your horse and equipment.

For stiles/gates, you can apply to the local authority to have these changed to kissing gates or old stiles replaced. The landowner is not responsible for the surface of the path itself, only safe passage along it. This includes ensuring the maintenance of entry/exit, but I know the Local Authority *used to* contribute to cost. Hopefully this still applies!!
 
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