Weightmans insurers unsavoury advice

If you ever wondered how a big insurer approaches a subsidence case then you need look no further than the Weightmans website, where they spell it out, with hints and tips about how to get rid of that pesky tree.

In the article by Weighmans insurers, who say in their 'About Us' page that they are trustworthy and act with integrity, advise that domestic and commercial third parties are more likely to remove trees than Local Authorities, "even with fairly limited evidence". They go on to say that removing the tree is "important" and can save insurers tens of thousands of pounds in engineering work to deal with the problem.

Finally, and in a startling display of how little they understand about the value and importance of trees and the eco-system services they provide, trees are reduced to carbon-storing machines. Weightmans say, "When seeking mitigation tree owners will often cite the environmental benefit of keeping the tree and it is good practice to advise them that this would be negated if an engineering scheme, such as underpinning is required".

If you would like to read the full article, you can find it here.

And their follow up, which explains about how insurers can explain away limited evidence in their quest to fell trees here.