High cost of bad weather is revealed by NFU Mutual

Tim Price, from the National Farmers Union Mutual Insurance Society, reckoned that winter-related claims in the past two months would be in excess of 40 million, with the majority of those coming from Scotland.

"We have now more than 400 claims for collapsed roofs with three quarters of those coming from Scotland," he said.

Using their area offices as indicators of where the claims have come from, Price said the Duns area seemed to be the worst affected in the whole country with Ingliston, Edinburgh, in second place.

Other locations with high claims for building damage were East Aberdeenshire and Turriff. Although the company faces these large claims, Price said he was pleased there had been very few cases where human injury had been linked to the physical damage of the buildings.

"The message seems to have got through that roofs with lots of snow on them can be very dangerous," he said.

In addition to collapsed roofs, the Mutual were also dealing with a large number of claims for damage to properties from burst pipes and consequential flood damage.

When the claims for the past two months are added to the 25m paid out by the NFU Mutual for those with collapsed roofs in February and March last spring, the combined total has made 2010 the worst year for winter claims in the company's 100-year existence.

He confirmed the Mutual will be carrying out a "lessons learned" exercise from the weather of last spring and the past two months. This would look at a range of issues from type of building most often affected through to the materials used in the structure to see if there were common factors in the claims.

While taking the claims on board, Price added that the Mutual had played its part in the removal of snow and ice from the country's highways in the past eight weeks.

"We were pleased to provide insurance cover for farmers involved in snow removal. We believe farmers played a significant part in clearing the roads around the country," he added.