Waterford Greenway businesses face imminent closure due
to cycling insurance
Two bike hire businesses that rent bikes on the Waterford
Greenway are facing closure over issues with cycling insurance.
One says his current insurance providers are pulling out
of the Irish market because the of the claims culture. Furthermore, other
insurers have told him they are unwilling to take on any more bike hire
companies as clients.
A second bike hire business has had €5,000 added to the
cost of his annual policy because of one claim lodged against him. And unless
he can get the costs under control, he feels his business is unsustainable.
It means unless Greenway Waterford Bike Hire and The Greenway Man Bike Hire get some resolution, two businesses that have benefited from the success of the Waterford Greenway, and who service visitors to it, may soon be lost.
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Donal Jacob of Greenway Waterford Bike Hire said his insurer, a UK company, is pulling
out of Ireland due to the claims culture and he is yet to find a replacement to
provide cover as other insurers do not want to deal with cycling businesses.
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“In four weeks time if don’t get insurance we’re shutting the doors until such a time as we do have insurance. But come next April if I don’t have insurance I may as well lock up,” he told the Munster Express.
He is
location at the Waterford Institute of
Technology Arena at Carriganore and because his insurance policy is up in just
under a month, he believes he is having problems that others in the sector will
endure in time.
Meanwhile, Garvan
Cummins of The Greenway Man Bike Hire at Durrow has had his cover increased by €5,000.
That happened due
to a claim being lodged against him, even though that action has yet to be
resolved.
He says 10
businesses operate supplying bikes to visitors to the Waterford Greenway, but
the rising costs are now threatening his business.
Describing the
situation as “heartbreaking” he said he had built up the business to employ six
people after the newsagents he ran for years closed during the recession, but
now he was threatened with another closure.
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