Should taxpayers pay to replace household goods/structural repairs for those who didn't take out household insurance and were affected by the recent floods?

[Bubble99]

Mr Brown has only pledged £14 million so this could be a non-starter, anyway.

With so many schools, health centres etc damaged there is probably not even enough to cover repairs for those.

BUT.

What about the others?

Elderly and infirm should be covered, without question, IMO. Replacing carpets,fridges and freezers for a section of society who are not necessarily able to deal with insurance renewals (if they ever had them) should be automatic, IMO.

But. How about families who have lost their massive plasma screens and whatnot (I can't afford those, and our insurance payments are not easy to find.)

Is it fair to say that their plight (by that I mean the not being insured bit) is caused by their own financial mismanagement/not prioritisng?

Not you Freckle.

More like the post after yours and similiar sentiments. It all keeps coming back to sodding plasma TVs.

sorry I mean anything carpets curtains fridges freezers

should we really pay because they oukdnt be bothered to get insurance

if its a choice between food and insurance choose food every time thats no contaest but if its just because you think it wont happen to you

a few years ago we were flooded in staffordshire no one ofered us any financial help insurance had to pay

my dads shop got flooded badly when we where children including his cars again it was insurance who had to pay

pb, have you read my posts by any chance?

yes and I've lived through it once it was horrible and they took ages to dry out lots of stuff was ruined that I cannot replace

I wouldnt wish this sitution on anyone but I heard a conversation yesterday outside school where people were cancelling there content insurance because it wasnt worth having!! if government were going to pay

This might be the way the media have manipulated the situation but this is how people see it, they think all insurance will be raised to cover those who didnt have any

? Does anybody seriously believe that the government is going to replace TV's? We live in a society where it is assumed that because of the wealth of our nation, a basic standard of living - bed to sleep on, able to keep and cook food, is possible for everyone. We support people if they loose their jobs, if they become ill and don't ask questions about insurance - why not if there are freak floods?

StG - I have no credit and I don't know if you got my email at all, I know its unlikely, but is there anything I can do to help?

xx

Well if people cancel insurance because of what the tabloids are telling them, they are stupid.

You mentioned carpets, curtains and freezers despite me saying more than once that they are not getting replaced. That's why I wondered if you had read my posts.

when my local area got flooded many years ago my friend lost most of his possessions he had a wife and a little boy, he worked his arse off in a low paid job and no he didn't have insurance. A risk? yes but would i have begrudged him a second hand sofa, freezer and cooker from tax payers money? no.

IMO you just can't means test these sorts of things, rich or poor noone asked for their belongings to be ruined.

< tries to imagine solem salvation army types handing out plasma screens to weeping victims>

Flamey, thanks mate but honestly all I can ask you for right now is lots of good vibes. A nice warm southerly breeze with no rain would be useful too .

We have a severe weather warning in place for this weekend. No one knows yet if it might all happen again

so what are they being given then? honest question

because if its thing like new front doors etc then my opinion would change

Beds, cookers, fridges. 2nd hand. That's it.

In which case I apologise for jumping in
all I can say is sadly that is not how its being reported on out local news

Comin your way

Then your local (wherever that might be) news hounds need to get their facts straight.

Sorry, I am probably getting irrationally angry but this isn't the first thread on this subject and it is always the same stuff over and over again.

North West regional news

I am trying to imagine the thought process: "A burglar could steal my DVD player, my TV, my jewellery, a domestic incident like pipes bursting could ruin thousands of pounds worth of clothes, books, CDs, works of art, but I'll cancel my contents insurance because in the event of the kind of flooding that you only get once every hundred years, the government will give me a second hand fridge".

thats what I thought to but apparently the house is minimal!!! and they didnt think there was much to steal anyway and it was easy to replase a tv

I am over insured and I know it beause I am paranoid about it I insure individual items as well as contents and we dont have much

This was done last week wasnt it?

I grew up near the somerset levels- bg flood palin. My employers lost everything, not replaced. Why? they couldnt get it insured as they lived on the levels. had to live on the levels though as it was the nature of their business. As it was they had plans 9well you would if you lived there) but poeple who don't expect it don't have plans necessarily.

Secondly, even if youa re insured there are no guarantees you'll get your cash straighta way- these thinsg take time, and even then insurers can be a pain. poor woman on the TV, insurers had rated her cooker cleanable- it had had sewage inside fgs!

Its never as si ple as you should have done X and Y

The toehr thing I would say is think about the victims- you may well be quite happy to penalise the adults but kids in the families suffer too, and cant get insurance.

(I d have insurance btw so no agenda)

There are two things which perplex me

1. why do people live on flood plains? Why does the government let people live on flood plains without flood mitigation strategies in place? Why would you buy or rent a house on a flood plain?

2. why don't people have house contents and buildings insurance? It is one of the biggest investments ever made yet people are willing to see it all disappear - whether it be fire/flood etc etc. If they can't get insurance because they live in a high risk area - doesn't that tell you something about moving there in the first place?

I'm not sure who should fit the bill but people will need help - I think all structural work should be covered first to make buildings safe, then public amenities and then household basics. General domestic stuff like tv etc shouldn't really be the responsibility of the government or other taxpayers imho.

i'm sure a lot of those plasma screens were rented or on credit cards, poor bastards. they'll still be paying for them for years...

huge areas of counties like SOmerset are flood plains, and indeed the village where I live (although we're on a hilly bit thanksfully- we'd be dry but stranded). Communities such as those on the levels pre exist many other towns, and indeed have industries 9the willow industry as an example) that rely on the floods plains. I know lots of people who do choose to move away, but many others inherit houses or are just used to the risks. Why do they choose nto to get insurance? because theyc an't get it.

Now the pre-existent communities are one thinga nd don't really get help anyway ime; however there seems to be a building policy that allows developments on areas such as the Thames Estuary and that needs a serious review imo.

I know that tradional farming communities would have lived on this land and continue to do so - but why aren't they now protected either by defences or government insurnace initiatives. Sea level rise isn't a new phenomenon.

octo, I live in Hull. Yes, it is a flood plain. I didn't want to move out of my home town so I had no choice but to buy a property on the flood plain.

The difference here is that it is a 'coastal' flood plain. We have a tidal barrier on the local river which has stopped the flooding that used to happen in the city centre decades ago.

This was not coastal flooding. It was a once in 4 hundred year event (apparently) when 1/6th of the annual rainfall fell in the space of 24 hours. Should I have not bought my house because of that minimal risk?

Well the area in SOmerset I know about does have drains and pumps and has done over many hundreds of years- however that in itself has contribut5ed to problems as the lowland areas are also wildlife havens and the moors near the villages (and a few decent sized towns- have known taunton High Street flooded on occasion) need to be flooded for many species continued breeding etc. So its a bit of a conundrum. certainly the Parrett (local river) doesn't flood as often as it used to (I dont think it does anyhow) but they cant totally drain the levels either, so freak rainfall etc wuld make it vulnerable I guess.