Fish caught up in the Libyan Embassy siege and a dentist kicked out a window by a patient are among claims settled by an insurer over the last 325 years.
Aviva revealed some of the more bizarre but valid claims as they marked the anniversary of their operations.
In 1984, a claim was paid to a fishmonger whose van was in the siege at the Libyan Embassy in London.
It was parked nearby and could not be moved until the siege ended, by which time the fish had rotted.
In 1961, the firm paid a claim from a dentist who was kicked out of a window by a patient coming round from an anaesthetic. And way back in 1878, a hotel keeper in London claimed £25 10s - £20,000 in today’s money – after suffering a blow to the eye from the cork of a champagne bottle.
In 1960, Aviva said it paid a claim to a shop owner for a broken showroom window relating to an incident involving a sheep running through the door of the showroom, taking a leap through the plate glass window and disappearing.
Aviva famously insured some of the securities stolen in the Great Train Robbery in 1963 and paid out £1,091,340 10s 0d – or £59million today.
Managing director Nick Major said: “We’ve seen the strangest and most unusual claims, which goes to show that planning for the unexpected is good business practice.
“Aviva has played an important role helping businesses protect what’s important to them, enabling them to continue to trade through good times and bad, something we have continued to focus on through the pandemic.”
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