Throwback Thursday: North Sea disaster; bullion raid
Insurance Post’s Throwback Thursday steps back in time to April 1980 to remind you what was going on this week in insurance history, when heavy claims were expected following a North Sea disaster and the cost of a bullion raid was being counted.
3 April 1980: Heavy claims follow North Sea disaster
Heavy insurance claims were expected after an oilfield accommodation rig in the Norwegian section of the North Sea capsized.
Reports indicated the rig’s hull value at nearly £16m.
It was thought the rig was insured through the Norwegian Oil Pool and reinsured 60% in the London Market among Lloyd’s and various companies.
£4m loss in bullion raid
Insurers were biting their nails after thieves hijacked a lorry load of £4m silver ingots by faking a traffic-census checkpoint.
The silver was on its way from a firm in Tooley Street, near London Bridge, to Tilbury, and was destined for East German trading interests.
The bullion was insured with the East German state insurance company Deutsche Auslands und Rückversicherungen, but it was uncertain whether this covered transit.
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