Festival season is already underway with events ranging from small affairs with just a handful of visitors, to the gigantic Glastonbury and Download festivals. However, recent years have seen many festivals cancelled, postponed or disrupted by extreme weather. Some festival organisers & suppliers who were not insured have gone out of business due to the financial losses and costs caused by the cancellation.

The early May Bank Holiday in 2019 is a great example of the unpredictable British weather as it was the coldest on record, temperatures as low as -4C. Conversely, the same weekend in 2018 was the warmest on record reaching over 28C! Thankfully most events are not cancelled due to temperature, although footfall & spend can be badly impacted; the real threats to summer events are strong winds, heavy rain and storms. Last year we had numerous claims for cancelled and disrupted events because the weather actually became a risk to life with winds threatening to blow down tents and precipitation levels making the ground conditions dangerous.

Duncan Sutcliffe, director, Sutcliffe & Co added: “If you are an event organiser, supplier or stallholder you can insure your costs and revenue against the risk of disruption, postponement or cancellation due to extreme weather. It is even possible to insure your revenue against reduced footfall or spend due to the weather keeping the punters away.”

If your event is vulnerable to the unpredictable British weather then please contact us for advice on cancellation insurance and risk management, you may be pleasantly surprised at how relatively little it can cost to insure your events.