Carisbrook floods: no payout leaves pub with no beer

By Emma Brown
Updated November 2 2012 - 4:04pm, first published March 22 2011 - 2:04pm
NO BEER: Britannia Hotel publicans David Kolevas and Carolyn Trudgeon won't be pulling a cold beer for a while.
NO BEER: Britannia Hotel publicans David Kolevas and Carolyn Trudgeon won't be pulling a cold beer for a while.

THE flood-damaged Britannia Hotel in Carisbrook may be a pub with no beer for a long time to come as Allianz insurance has rejected insurance claims made by the publicans.Owners David Kolevas and Carolyn Trudgeon received a letter from the insurer last week saying the hotel’s policy didn’t cover it for flood damage. “The insurance company has said it was a riverine flood in which water pushed up the creek through storm water drains,” Mr Kolevas said.Allianz has told the publican he can expect some money for water damage from leaks in the ceiling, believed to be $80,000 or $90,000. “The pub was so devastated inside that is just not enough to cover it,” Mr Kolevas said.Damage to the hotel has been estimated at $250,000 with two cool rooms destroyed and the bar in need of replacement.“We just haven’t got this kind of money to get up and running by ourselves.”Mr Kolevas said his hotel was integral to the town.“The pub was established in 1857. In a little town like this the hotel becomes the meeting place for people. It holds the town together,” he said. Allianz Australia Insurance general manager corporate affairs Nicholas Scofield said the hotel’s insurance policy did not cover flood. “While I understand flood cover can be taken out as an option under the policies offered by the broker, in the particular policy that Allianz was asked to underwrite, flood was an exclusion,” Mr Scofield said. All the exclusions the policy is subject to, including the flood exclusion, are clearly indicated on either the summary of cover document and/or the policy wording itself. “Consequently no part of the premium charged or paid for the insurance policy was to cover the property for the risk of damage caused by flood.”

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