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At a loss; 2014’s most freakish accidents

Kit Klarenberg
Written By:
Kit Klarenberg
Posted:
Updated:
09/02/2015

RIAS has published the details of the most bizarre insurance claims the firm has processed over the past year.

While the accidents described are ‘freak’ in every sense of the word, in every case significant damage was caused – and major costs incurred.

  • A Belfast resident caused nearly £400 worth of damage to his TV after receiving a bite from his pet bearded dragon
  •  A young man who threw a shoe at his sister thankfully missed his target – but unluckily hit the family’s TV instead, causing £667 worth of damage
  •  A dog in Slough caused £250 worth of damage by leaping at a TV screen displaying an image of the sea
  •  A Rochester man brushing his teeth was panicked when a wasp flew through the window; his frenzied attempts to shoo it away caused over £1000 in damage to his bathroom
  •  A real life game of Angry Birds took place when a pigeon catapulted a vase from a bathroom windowsill into a toilet, scoring £193 worth of points for a cracked toilet bowl
  •  Two battling cats chose a Norwich living room as their arena; the fallout was a broken TV and £380 worth of damage
  •  An Enfield man caused over £1300 worth of damage to his home when he unsuccessfully attempted to barbeque an entire goose; melting the barbeque completely
  •  A disagreement between two magpies in Kilmarnock resulted in over £400 worth of damage to a conservatory when their battle caused them to crash through it

“Not every claim we receive is straightforward and it is interesting to see what unusual scenarios cropped up in the last year with animals often proving to be the chief culprits,” Peter Corfield, managing director of RIAS, said. “It seems that pretty much anything can happen to cause catastrophe in the home and the best way to deal with it is to make sure you have the right level of protection against the unexpected.”