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Scottish Association for Countrysports, Insurance details

 

Sac's do a deal with club membership, the normal full membership is £28 if your a member of a club, and the club has 8 members or, over membership per individual is £20 Don't be put of by the word Scottish in the title membership and insurance benefits are open to everyone in the UK. Age 18 years and under get free membership with the full benefits of a full member :clapper:

 

The insurance is through the NFU and covers all fieldsports including shooting, angling falconry and legal Lurcher and Terrier work. We have a few Lurcher/ Terrier clubs south of the border who are members allready The insurance also covers Terrier racing and simulated coursing if member clubs are running their own shows. We at Sac's actively support all working dog enthusiasts and we are not an organisation with a Toff's mentality ;) If you would like a Hunting Life Club!! ask Ian B if its ok and if he's up for it I'll sort something out!!

 

Tom

 

Below is Ian Clark's (Director of The Scottish Association for Countrysports) response to a thread on another website Re an incident in Scotland recently!!

 

 

Hi Ian,

 

Genuine question here, so please bear with me. As has been pointed out and fully accepted, these guys are innocent until proven guilty; so that's one thing.

 

However, I would like to ask about the whole "we all need to be seen to condemn the actions of these guys, if they are found to have broken the law."

 

I have only recently learnt of SACS, and privately applauded its apparent goals. However, from what you say you/SACS will be encouraging everyone to condemn and vilify anyone found to have carried out illegal hunting? So, where does it stop? Does it stop?

 

"Right lads, Mr X has been convicted of illegally coursing a fox with his lurcher, make sure to condemn him to the press!" "Ms Y has been found guilty of illegally catching mice with her terrier, condemn her quick!".

 

Seems to me that we should be working to SUPPORT people, and educate those in need of it. We can no longer use the excuse of "oh but badger digging is illegal" because so is virtually every other type of hunting nowadays. I would have thought that the only thing we should be condemning is the ridiculous law, not the people who are keeping, and have kept for a long time, fieldsports alive.

 

Were we talking about BAITING here (of any animal) I'd see the point. But there is now a hazy line to be had; there really isn't much difference between a dig on old Brock on a cattle farm and one for Charlie at the chicken farm. If anything foxing is the more socially and politically sensitive of the two in these times, so one can only wonder what the reaction/proposed action of SACS would be had it been Reynard in question.

 

I was wondering what the SACS stance was, and why?

Cheers,

 

Lee

 

 

 

Hi Lee

 

Sorry for the long delay, mate - I'm not very 'techie', and I hadn't noticed that there was more than one page on this topic! Calll me a twat if you like - I'm quite used to it.

 

Anyway, the answer to your question is as follows:

 

SACS is committed to promoting and defending ALL country sports. I fight every bit as hard (and dirty, too!) for ferreting and foxing as I do for driven pheasants and the posh stuff.

 

Where the sport in question is currently legal, I can stand up and shout, hit the press, etc. Where the sport is currently illegal, I have to deal with it differently. We will always defend our members, even where they are accused of doing something illegal, and our famous SACS insurance policy is designed to make sure that members are defended by the top legal people in any court proceedings.

 

Unfortunately, if a member is proved in court to have done something which is against the current law, there is a limit to what we can do for them.

 

What I AM doing in the background is to work flat-out to get these stupid new laws, which nobody wants, repealed or amended. I am actively working to get hare coursing decriminalised, for example, and I don't know of any other organisation which is doing anything about that!

 

To do this, I need to make sure that SACS is SEEN as a respectable law-abiding organisation. That means that the PUBLIC face of SACS has to be squeaky clean - it does NOT mean that privately we hold the same views.

 

I would never suggest that any individual should be condemned in public by other sportsmen, or by SACS - what I have to say in public is that SACS, as an organisation, cannot be SEEN to condone breaking the law.

 

In practice, this would mean that if I need to do a press release on something, for example your scenario about chasing mice, it would read as follows :

 

"SACS does not condone breaking the law under any circumstances - however, there are cases such as this where the law is clearly badly written, and SACS is working with the Scottish Executive to have this amended."

 

This is what would appear in the national press - in the background, i would have a team of ace lawyers trying to prove that the mice were gerbils, the terrier was a cat and that no laws had been broken!

 

I hope this helps to clear up any misunderstanding - if there's anything else you want to know, just let me know. And I promise to read to the end of the second page in future!

 

YIS

 

Ian

 

 

What does the insurance actually cover?

 

One of the most common reasons for joining SACS is in order to

be certain of having proper third party insurance cover, in case

something happens and you end up being sued.

Most people don’t read the small print, though, and as a result they

hope they are covered for everything, but not really sure if they

are covered for anything!

To ensure that our members are not in this helpless position, the

information below should be of interest. When SACS moved to its new

HQ in Lanarkshire, one of our first actions was to meet our insurers

face to face, to establish exactly what was covered under the policy

we have had since our inception in 1994.

After considering this policy carefully, we felt that some parts of it

could be improved a little, so the following is a summary of the cover

which is now in place for all members. All of the additions have

been made without any additional cost to members.

• Third-party Liability

All recognised country sports, except competitive horse events.

This now covers: All types of shooting with any legal weapons,

whether at live or artificial targets, indoors or outdoors; all types

of fishing with rod and line; all types of falconry and hawking; all

types of gundog work, including tests and trials; all types of lurcher

and terrier work, including racing and showing at events; ferreting;

archery; hunting, hacking and general personal horse use; the use of

hounds, etc. for hunting. The fishing cover includes fishing anywhere

within GB Territorial Limits, so sea-fishing is also specifically covered,

provided you are within this area.

Note that this cover applies when carrying out these activities as a

sport – it does not cover commercial activities, or carrying out these

activities for hire or reward. SACS has a ‘Business Member’ category,

which covers even commercial activities which would otherwise be

country sports, and anyone wishing to extend their cover in this way

should be registered as a Business Member. To find out if you should

have this additional cover, contact SACS HQ.

• Employers Liability

The cover includes employer’s liability for casual beaters and

pickers-up, and anyone who may be assisting you with your sport

SACS

Insurance

in some way. In law, anyone who is ‘employed’, which simply

means receiving some kind of reward for what they are doing,

is treated differently from an ordinary member of the public for

insurance purposes.

Your SACS insurance covers these ‘employees’ while they are

acting on your behalf.

• Legal Insurance

One of the most common difficulties members encounter is

when they apply for a firearm or shotgun certificate, or to

renew their existing certificates. These problems are becoming

increasingly common, as the article in this issue on licensing

problems shows.

Your SACS insurance includes up to £100,000 for legal expenses

to cover the cost of employing expert legal assistance in

appealing against a refusal or other associated difficulties.

This legal insurance also covers your legal costs in defending

yourself if you are charged with alleged offences relating to

your sport – the most common of these are currently under the

Wildlife and Countryside Acts, although there are others. The

legal representatives we use are widely acknowledged to be

among the best in the country.

• Personal Accident

We have now added up to £10,000 personal accident cover, if you

injure yourself while taking part in a country sport – this will help

to make up your lost income while you are off work or otherwise

incapacitated as the result of such an accident.

Finally, note that if you are resident in UK & NI, the cover applies

anywhere in the world while you are on holiday. If you are not a

UK & NI resident, the same cover will apply, but only while you

are actually in UK & NI.

We at SACS think this is pretty comprehensive cover – if anyone

can think of something relevant which is not covered by the

wording above, please contact SACS HQ immediately, and we

will have it added!

Edited by Foxgun Tom
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Guest alastair

ive got sacs insurance,seems proper hunting people have taken a lot of time to sort out a decent insurance policy, without any dodgy small print.plus you get a membership card which can be copied and put with any permission letters,etc,all helps in gaining land owners trust.

Edited by alastair
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Just been informed by Ian Clark (Director of SAC's) that I'm a twat :cry: I can only agree in this instance :icon_redface: I said that kids up to the age of 19 get a free membership and all the benefits that a full member gets. What I should have stated is that its kids ,up to the age of 18 who get those benefits

 

Sorry for the confusion :icon_redface::icon_redface::icon_redface:

 

Tom

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Just been informed by Ian Clark (Director of SAC's) that I'm a twat :cry:

 

 

Tom,

 

I've only conversed with Ian via pm's but he has always seemed very astute to me ;) :11: :11:

 

Like Yogi he is smarter than your average bear :icon_redface: but he's still a specky fecker!!!! :11: :11:

 

Tom

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