“For girls who go plump in the night” is the rather strange title of an album by 1970’s rock band Caravan, which is not the kind of thing you would expect an insurance man to know, even if he does actually own one, (a caravan I mean!) An insurance man in a caravan is probably not that unusual but an insurance man in a caravan listening to Caravan? Surely not!

I can’t remember exactly what got me thinking about this, but I think it’s to do with when I was looking over some photos from last year’s Glastonbury festival the other day and I noticed the sheer amount of caravans there in one outfit or another. Of course, being an insurance man, I immediately began thinking about the cover that these caravans may or may not have had and whether or not the underwriters knew exactly what they were being used for.

Caravans were being used for almost everything you can think of that needs a sturdy shelter, i.e. people were living in them, some were being used as resting places for tired musicians, some were being used for paid showers and some were being used shops by refreshment vendors, and I still mean proper caravans, not mobile catering units.

In the camping areas there were caravans being used as shelter from the rain for the security staff, as meeting points for lost festival goers and as weekend homes for ageing rockers who either could no longer handle the rough nights of tent camping, or who just happened be fellow caravan fans.

Some of the bands use caravans too of course. Great big ones with one extra wheel at the front for steering the things for a start. They use them for changing in, partying in and well, all of the other things that bands do although I’m not certain that Caravan ever used one, that’s too good to be true isn’t it? Caravan in a caravan listening to their debut album (yes that’s right called “Caravan”). Perhaps they even went along with their friends in a convoy - a caravan of caravans including a caravan with Caravan in it listening to Caravan!

But anyway, before I started ranting about rock-stars in caravan convoys I was thinking about whether or not these caravans had the correct insurance cover and lets be honest, the answer is probably not. If you are considering taking your caravan along to a festival this year then it is well worth thinking about getting proper insurance cover for it. Caravans can be damaged in all kinds of ways, especially at festivals where the fun loving, free-partying atmosphere can sometimes cloud people’s better judgement and out of control festival goers and crowds and the like can do a lot of damage to your caravan, whether it is intentional or not. It could simply slide off on its own if the mud gets too wet, they can flood, catch fire, get blown away, and almost anything you can think of can happen. Fortunately you can insure caravans against more or less anything that could happen to it, even if it gets rammed into by an uninsured caravan being used as a refreshment stand!

Share This