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Boat fire at Barton Marina


Flyboy

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Hi fellow boaters. I am the owner of the boat with the blue awning (Dinard). I was not over France but actually riding my motorbike at the time of the fire and only found out about the incident when the police phoned me to check that I was still alive and not on the boat. Its been a real horrible weekend for me and missis. We have lost the Dinard through no fault of our own. The boat was our pride, joy and sanctuary weekend retreat. We feel bereaved .

Below is a transcript of a statement I am preparing because .. guess what. I have discovered that my insurance had not auto renewed and had lapsed.. a bummer

 

At 12.50pm on Friday 21st October a fire broke out on “Corialis” a GRP boat moored in berth 64 on pier 2 at Barton Marina

My boat “Dinard” was moored adjacent to “Corialis” in berth 63. The fire spread to my boat and across to two other boats moored in berths 62 & 61. The fire brigade was called but unfortunately all 4 boats were destroyed by fire and sunk.

The owner of “Corialis” had left his boat unattended while using the marinas shower facility when the fire started. I was not at the marina at the time and only became aware of the incident after a phone call from the police.

I purchased “Dinard” in August 2009 at a cost of £6,750. Since then I have spent approximately £3,500 upgrading the vessel.

Dinard was a 26’ long GRP cabin cruiser built by Burland in 1980.

The fire was covered by a local online paper and I include photos downloaded showing the sequence of events. A video can be seen below link.

http://www.derbytelegraph.co.uk/fierce-blaze-at-barton-marina-sinks-one-boat-and-severely-damages-others/story-29829584-detail/story.html

Unfortunately I have discovered that my boat was not insured. For some reason the original insurance policy direct debit did not auto repeat.

Apparently the salvage & removal costs of all boats are taken from the separate boat owners insurers. I will now have to pay a quarter of this myself which will not be cheap.

I need to make a private claim for the total loss of my boat as well as the additional salvage cost against the boat owner’s insurance policy.

Good luck with that and finding out on which boat the fire started, thankfully my company go to a lot of trouble to make sure they get my premium even ringing at 7pm at night when I renewed it over the phone,

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Good luck with that and finding out on which boat the fire started, thankfully my company go to a lot of trouble to make sure they get my premium even ringing at 7pm at night when I renewed it over the phone,

Hi Ditch. wish my company had.. What I cant understand is why CRT gave me a licence with no insurance in place for years? will call them tomorrow

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I would have said it was fairly obvious where the fire started from the video.

 

Our marina keep a copy of our insurance certificate on file. I would have expected Barton Turns to do the same.

me too.. but no copy found will call CRT in morning . not a good weekend really

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Hi Ditch. wish my company had.. What I cant understand is why CRT gave me a licence with no insurance in place for years? will call them tomorrow

I am surprised at that but perhaps they accept your tick or statement on the licence renewal that the boat is insured. I thought the insurance had just expired but from what you say, it expired years ago.

Sorry you have lost your boat as it is not a nice experience for anyone.

 

haggis

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I have discovered that my insurance had not auto renewed and had lapsed.. a bummer

My insurance broker insists he can't legally auto renew our policies does anyone know if this is correct?

 

Sorry off topic I know.

 

Hayabusabart I really feel for you, what a position to find yourself in. Good luck!

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My insurance broker insists he can't legally auto renew our policies does anyone know if this is correct?

 

Sorry off topic I know.

 

Hayabusabart I really feel for you, what a position to find yourself in. Good luck!

They seem able to do it with cars

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Hi fellow boaters. I am the owner of the boat with the blue awning (Dinard). I was not over France but actually riding my motorbike at the time of the fire and only found out about the incident when the police phoned me to check that I was still alive and not on the boat. Its been a real horrible weekend for me and missis. We have lost the Dinard through no fault of our own. The boat was our pride, joy and sanctuary weekend retreat. We feel bereaved .

Below is a transcript of a statement I am preparing because .. guess what. I have discovered that my insurance had not auto renewed and had lapsed.. a bummer

 

At 12.50pm on Friday 21st October a fire broke out on “Corialis” a GRP boat moored in berth 64 on pier 2 at Barton Marina

My boat “Dinard” was moored adjacent to “Corialis” in berth 63. The fire spread to my boat and across to two other boats moored in berths 62 & 61. The fire brigade was called but unfortunately all 4 boats were destroyed by fire and sunk.

The owner of “Corialis” had left his boat unattended while using the marinas shower facility when the fire started. I was not at the marina at the time and only became aware of the incident after a phone call from the police.

I purchased “Dinard” in August 2009 at a cost of £6,750. Since then I have spent approximately £3,500 upgrading the vessel.

Dinard was a 26’ long GRP cabin cruiser built by Burland in 1980.

The fire was covered by a local online paper and I include photos downloaded showing the sequence of events. A video can be seen below link.

http://www.derbytelegraph.co.uk/fierce-blaze-at-barton-marina-sinks-one-boat-and-severely-damages-others/story-29829584-detail/story.html

Unfortunately I have discovered that my boat was not insured. For some reason the original insurance policy direct debit did not auto repeat.

Apparently the salvage & removal costs of all boats are taken from the separate boat owners insurers. I will now have to pay a quarter of this myself which will not be cheap.

I need to make a private claim for the total loss of my boat as well as the additional salvage cost against the boat owner’s insurance policy.

 

 

So sorry to hear this. I hope you get fully recompensed by the other party.

 

My boat is at Barton Marina and I'm currently away working so when I saw this thread wondered if my boat was involved. They do have my phone number and did call me once when my carbon monoxide alarm was going off. Chimney cowl had jammed into the wind, so fumes blown down chimney! Got rid of cowl and all was well.

 

Every Year I am asked for a copy of my insurance, licence and boat safety certificates and they photo copy them in the marina office. I get notified by a standard letter in a white envelope, generally at the start of the year from memory. With regards to tackling a major blaze I would move boats when safe and leave it to the professionals.

 

James.

Edited by canals are us?
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I used to be an airport fireman.

 

As an amateur you should expect to successfully extinguish a fire the size of an office waste paper bin

You should hope to extinguish a fire in a skip with good tools (ext or hose reel) -Should it get bigger than that call the pro's.

 

Sometimes you can do a lot of good just to cool the surroundings -neighbouring boats- to stop the fire spreading.

 

I wonder which council is going to pick up the tab for housing people who "were not living there not paying council tax" but now need housing?

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Ouch - but as others have said I hope you can claim against the insurers of the original cause of the fire.

 

Craftinsure boat insurance renewal is pretty much automatic. They just take payment from the card details on their system, a week or two after an email warning you. Every few years (new credit card arrives etc) I have to update the card details,

 

Our car insurance is automatic. They write to us each year, to check the details are still correct, and if we don't reply then they charge us and issue the paperwork.

Edited by Scholar Gypsy
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Sorry to hear about the loss of your boat. Hope you can successfully claim on the other boats insurance.

 

If you have a Smart phone, I would learn how to set reminders for important things like insurance, licence etc.

 

Edited to correct autowrong.

Edited by cuthound
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My insurance broker insists he can't legally auto renew our policies does anyone know if this is correct?

 

Sorry off topic I know.

 

Hayabusabart I really feel for you, what a position to find yourself in. Good luck!

Ours specifically says that they will not auto renew the policy if paid for my direct debit and they make a point of it several times in the documentation.

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I have now found the email I got last January from craftinsure. Various things one is asked to check, but as close to automatic as you can get I think.

 

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

 

Dear Simon Judge,

The insurance policy for your Narrow Boat, Scholar Gypsy renews
in 30 days time and your new annual premium will be £xxx based on the information
held in our records and the type of Policy attached.

Your premium is inclusive of
Insurance Premium Tax at the current rate of 9.5%.

You should now check that the
detail stored about you, your credit or debit card, and your boat, in the Existing
Customer pages at www.craftinsure.com is correct. (Please telephone the helpline
0345 2607 888 or email us if you have difficulty accessing this area). Please note
the Craftinsure website has recently been optimised to allow access from a mobile
phone or hand held device.

Please also click on "renewal_declarations" link below
to ensure that you still comply with our insuring conditions for your boat, which
may have changed since you originally bought this
insurance:

http://www.craftinsure.com/member/renewal_declarations.asp?pid=644834


You need take no further action should you wish to renew, however, you must cancel
the policy if you do not wish to proceed, and you must contact us now if we have
previously agreed special terms with you (such as extending cover to allow your boat
to be based and used beyond the standard territorial scope of the attached
Policy).

A sample of your new policy wording is enclosed. Should you have any
queries having checked the sample policy, please contact
customersupport@craftinsure.com.

We will automatically collect the new premium
using the card details you have saved in our system (PLEASE CHECK THESE DETAILS NOW
TO ENSURE YOUR COVER REMAINS IN FORCE), and a new policy will be emailed to you on
the renewal date (in 30 days time). Your new policy will contain evidence of Third
Party cover (now £5 million)for licensing purposes or production to your Marina or
Port Authority. If you need this document before renewal date please email us for a
copy with confirmation of your renewal instructions.

Should you wish to contact us
about any aspect of your renewal please quote your name, policy number and any query
in an email to customersupport@craftinsure.com.

Thank you for continuing to insure
with craftinsure.com

Yours sincerely,

customersupport@craftinsure.com

Authorised
and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority

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I don't know of any insurance company that doesn't issue a renewal notice well before expiry of a policy. I'm with Craftinsure and they automatically renew if they hold your card details after giving you a months renewal notice. My house insurance with Morethan does the same.

 

With regard to CaRt not telling you that your insurance has expired, why should they? Insurance may expire during the middle of a licence period, so as far as CaRT are concerned you are insured at renewal. The onus is always on the policy holder to ensure they are covered, the same for the licence.

 

The DVLA don't tell me when my car insurance is due although they do know when it expires. It's my responsibility to ensure I am covered.

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As for updating your car insurance automatically you must be super rich or just dont care. Every year they send me my renewal with an updated quote, we have 4 cars/vans, and of course it has gone UP. I get on the telephone and ask for the best price etc etc and without fail they come up with some excuse to make it CHEAPER. Last year after taking the advice of the telephone sales person I changed the insurance on my 10 year old Sprinter van from 3rd party to compehensive and our multi car policy dropped by 50 pounds. That was 150 pounds less than the bill I had just been sent. We pay about 750 pounds for a GL420, VW Golf, Sprinter LWB and Vivaro

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As for updating your car insurance automatically you must be super rich or just dont care. Every year they send me my renewal with an updated quote, we have 4 cars/vans, and of course it has gone UP. I get on the telephone and ask for the best price etc etc and without fail they come up with some excuse to make it CHEAPER. Last year after taking the advice of the telephone sales person I changed the insurance on my 10 year old Sprinter van from 3rd party to compehensive and our multi car policy dropped by 50 pounds. That was 150 pounds less than the bill I had just been sent. We pay about 750 pounds for a GL420, VW Golf, Sprinter LWB and Vivaro

I dropped £50 from their auto renew price. but if something happens and I do forget to renew I will be covered. Having said that the company I was with 2 years ago didn't do auto renewal and I was on holiday so it did slip by. Rang them and they said I would have to have a new quote as it would be a new policy and that was cheaper than the renewal would have been.

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didnt you notice on your bank statements that no funds were taken out. Not having a pop at you as its something that could well happen to me.

 

I'd have thought the insurance company would have asked/pestered you to renew your insurance but if it has been years I guess they gave up after a few months. What insurance dates and numbers have you been giving to CRT in the meantime.

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