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Layout Damaged at open day!


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I am sorry to hear about the problems you have experienced and agree with the advice you have given.

 

I have also had problems exhibiting my layout but fortunately not on this scale. Last year I exhibited my model of Corfe Castle at Durlston Castle during the late May holiday. Children were running under the layout. One woman grabbed the controller without asking me. She started off a Hornby rebuilt Battle of Britain locomotive at full speed and then did an emergency stop breaking one of the couplings and then her family started handling it. I told them to leave it alone and they walked off with the woman saying it does not work. One child grabbed hold of the rebuilt Battle of Britain while it was running. Needless to say it is not running now. Another child rummaged through the cars I had left in a box and another youth switched the points so the train would derail. Every time I needed to go out I had to take everything off the track to make sure it did not get damaged. Even then a couple of youths ran through the room and knocked a couple of station buildings off the baseboard. The managers of the castle are surprised that I don't want to exhibit my layout there again.

 

Conversely I took my N gauge layout to a display in a couple of large gardens in Ferndown and I had no trouble at all. The organiser helped me to carry the layout into a marquee. A young lady asked me politely if her son could run the trains and the son spent an hour running them. At the end the woman thanked me and said I had won a convert to model railways.

 

In future I am only going to take my layouts to organised exhibitions and only then if I can get some help setting up and running.

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I have to agree from some of the posts here that displaying something you've spent research, love, time and not a little money on at anything other than perhaps an organised model railway exhibition is fraught with danger. A complete eye-opener to me, at least. I had no idea that people could treat something that doesn't belong to them with such utter contempt. Maybe I should wake up and welcome myself to the real world... I still find it all very sad.

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Can I make it clear that exhibition insurance is for the benifit of the organisers against claims of negligence made against them. It does NOT cover damage to layouts. Layout insurance is for the layout owner to arrange.

 

It may be that the exhibition organisers have arranged insurance to cover damage to layouts but it is not usual. The exhibitions that I am involved with do not.

 

A reputable exhibition arranging reputable cover does cover damage to layouts or stock - http://www.modelrailwayinsurance.co.uk/docs/cover-summary-Exhibition.pdf - premiums are based upon the value of exhibits. I think you may be limiting your thinking to public liability cover for an event.

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Having met Darren but once at a SWAG day in Taunton, I would guess that he loaned his layout "in good faith".

 

A lesson to us all in that "good faith" may mean different things to different people. Maybe some form of contract is required (easy to say in hindsight) for any loan, although the implied good faith when Torrington was loaned needs to be stressed.

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Can I make it clear that exhibition insurance is for the benifit of the organisers against claims of negligence made against them. It does NOT cover damage to layouts. Layout insurance is for the layout owner to arrange.

 

It may be that the exhibition organisers have arranged insurance to cover damage to layouts but it is not usual. The exhibitions that I am involved with do not.

Errr, no. An exhibition must have third party liability of at least £2m. It should also cover layout and stock from the moment it leaves it's normal location until it returns to same. So layout from the garage and stock from the back bedroom. If a bone fide exhibition doesn't provide this level of insurance, then I won't take my layouts. Simples.

 

Bill

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Its honestly horrible how disrespectful and amazingly stupid people can be.

Every time Ive seen layouts displayed here in the US, its always behind plexiglass or HIGHLY supervised. I cant believe people would still behave so badly even in those conditions.

The lack of respect is disgusting.

I hope you get some form of compensation. Many people don't realize how much our "toys" really cost.

In the "throw away" age, its not too surprising how people see things. If it breaks, just buy another...no value for time or effort.

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Can I make it clear that exhibition insurance is for the benifit of the organisers against claims of negligence made against them. It does NOT cover damage to layouts. Layout insurance is for the layout owner to arrange. .....

 

In my experience of organising both small and large shows this is not the case and that suitable insurance is taken out to cover both public and participants. Any organisation seeking to penny pinch by cutting their insurance down to or beyond the bare minimum seems a bit short sighted to me.

 

Back on topic. I don't often take my toys out on the road but when I do I'm always aware of the possibility of damage. Even careful, well intentioned helpers can have accidents as can I. None of us are infallible and I try to be relaxed about the prospect of breakages; 'I made it, I can repair it' is my mantra. Fortunately little damage has ever been done. That which has being the result of genuine accident rather than wilful carelessness. In Darren's position I'd be most upset of all at the attitude of those he sought to support, their seeming lack of concern when returning the damaged layout and the inferred lack of care when it was in their hands.

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Can I make it clear that exhibition insurance is for the benifit of the organisers against claims of negligence made against them. It does NOT cover damage to layouts. Layout insurance is for the layout owner to arrange.

 

It may be that the exhibition organisers have arranged insurance to cover damage to layouts but it is not usual. The exhibitions that I am involved with do not.

All model railway exhibitions I have attended as a participant insure the layouts from the moment that they leave the owners premises or where they are normally stored until they are returned to the same place after the exhibition..

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Ah, the traps for the unwary.

 

My signal achievement was having all the hall curtains removed for cleaning and repair the day before an art club's booking for a life painting competition. At 'the inquest' I was able to show that this planned maintenance was placed in the schedule well before this event was booked.

 

What was their problem anyway? You get better light to study the folks in the buff if the main windows on the South elevation facing onto the high street are admitting full on sunshine. Couldn't see the difficulty myself.

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Hi 

I would like to thank you all for the support and kind words you have sent me, it has cheered me up no end, i was so upset about the damage done to the layout that i just wanted to cry!.

But after reading what you have all said i will get the layout out and reaper all the damage and also change a lot of area's that i never was to happy with and make the layout look a lot better.

Thanking you all from the bottom of my heart for your support, But i have learned a good lesson from this.

Darren

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Its honestly horrible how disrespectful and amazingly stupid people can be.

Every time Ive seen layouts displayed here in the US, its always behind plexiglass or HIGHLY supervised. I cant believe people would still behave so badly even in those conditions.

The lack of respect is disgusting. ....

Welcome to Britain.

 

Abandon hope all ye who come to live here.

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As a club we have been asked if we could attend with a layout at non railway shows or events and the first question we always ask is will we be insured, followed by will you cover our transport costs as we will need to hire a van to shift it. The normal response was no, so we didn't attend. The word seemed to spread as we didn't get that many asks after while.

 

SS

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You really should try to find out if their was any insurance for this 'public event'. Simply they may well say to you something like we can't pay you, there was no insurance. Once they have said this go to the press and 'out them' as it must not be allowed to happen in the future, They appear negligent. The local Council will also be interested if they know this lot held a public event without insurance.

Good luck and please do not let them get away with it for the sake of others in the future and for your sake too; you should be 'compensated'.

Phil

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A brief word on the insurance issue: there are only two legally compulsory insurance requirements in the UK: road traffic and employer's liability.

 

Venue providers usually require those renting or using a venue to arrange insurance, but that will usually be to protect the venue provider. Most will also require public liability insurance as a term of the hire. Neither would cover this very unpleasant circumstance. Note though that some will merely ask whether it has been arranged and not necessarily check the policy itself. It does happen that all the organiser has done is tick the box confirming insurance has/will be arranged without doing so. 

 

As noted above, responsible organisers may take out more comprehensive insurance which may well cover this circumstance. As also noted above, it is wise to check what has been done by the organisers, perhaps asking for a copy of the policy, but that does not help you.

 

The advice on having the damage assessed, writing a letter of claim to the organiser and requiring compensation and issuing small claims proceedings (if necessary) is sound. The court fees go up tomorrow, which does not help much. I would be inclined to set out the full cost of repair in the letter of claim, not just the cost of replacement articles.

 

The basis of your claim is that the organiser assumed responsibility for the layout by asking you to leave it at the venue, and thus assumed responsibility for taking reasonable care of it, which includes having it stewarded, which I see has been admitted did not take place. That includes taking reasonable care in dismantling and transportation as well.

 

I would be inclined to pursue the person who asked you to leave it for the second day and leave it to him/her to worry about who else can be involved. I would not attempt pursuing the organisation, whatever it is, as that can be fraught with difficulty.

 

Hope this helps and best of luck. Please post if anything gets troublesome and I will try to help.

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Can I make it clear that exhibition insurance is for the benifit of the organisers against claims of negligence made against them. It does NOT cover damage to layouts. Layout insurance is for the layout owner to arrange.

 

It may be that the exhibition organisers have arranged insurance to cover damage to layouts but it is not usual. The exhibitions that I am involved with do not.

Can you please list the exhibitions that you are involved with so that we know to avoid any invitations?

 

Andi

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Can I make it clear that exhibition insurance is for the benifit of the organisers against claims of negligence made against them. It does NOT cover damage to layouts. Layout insurance is for the layout owner to arrange.

 

It may be that the exhibition organisers have arranged insurance to cover damage to layouts but it is not usual. The exhibitions that I am involved with do not.

Exhibition insurance should cover damage to layouts both in the hall and in transit, anything less is, in my eyes, totally unacceptable. As provided by Magnet Insurance, No connection just a satisfied (and fully insured) customer.

http://www.modelrailwayinsurance.co.uk/

Remind me not to come to any show like that!!

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Can you please list the exhibitions that you are involved with so that we know to avoid any invitations?

 

Andi

I can't understand why people are marking this as funny, it was made as a 100% serious point. If ANY show doesn't insure your layout from the moment it leaves home/clubroom to the moment it returns for damage, theft etc. then really do avoid that show, any exhibition running on anything less than full insurance doesn't deserve any or us supporting it. Such shows need to be made aware that it is not good enough. Remember that no-one exhibiting a layout is making any money from doing so, so why should we put YEARS of effort at risk just so someone (WHO IS MAKING MONEY FROM YOUR EFFORTS) can save a few quid on an insurance premium?

 

Andi

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The CRMA magnet scheme as others have said covers the layout from leaving home to return, I think barriers must also be provided or if not then the layout should be supervised at all times while the show is open to the public

 

I would have thought any event open to the public should have some kind of insurance.

 

David

I always ask for barriers when I take Sumatra Road out to shows. Even kids leaning on the baseboards annoys me.

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I always ask for barriers when I take Sumatra Road out to shows. Even kids leaning on the baseboards annoys me.

The trouble with some barriers is that parents seem to see them as somewhere to sit their beloved little horrors. I have a great hatred for perspex front screens on layouts but Ravensclyffe will be gaining screens in certain areas to protect vulnerable parts from fingers. Razor blades may be fitted to the tops of the screens if needed ;)

 

Andi

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Can you please list the exhibitions that you are involved with so that we know to avoid any invitations?

 

Andi

 

Apologies for marking that as "Funny"... it's just the way it came across ie, not without a little irony, just like your razor blade comment!

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Welcome to Britain.

 

Abandon hope all ye who come to live here.

 

You think this kind of thing is restricted to Britain?  Ignorance, stupidity, vindictivness, selfishness, etc are not restricted to this island I can assure you.

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