When Mark Sutton wrote a book honoring First World War Soldiers, he thought that selling the book at the Swindon Tourist Information Centre would net him a lot of sales, as it has since the book was published last October. But thanks to a new rule going into effect on April 1, reports the Swindon Advertiser, Sutton is being required to take out 5 million pounds in insurance to sell the book on council premises – to protect against people dropping books on their feet or getting a paper cut and then suing the council. “It’s crazy. I refuse to get the insurance,” said Sutton. “I’m not going to bow down to it. It’s against the principles of what I wrote the book for.It’s just another one of these silly Health and Safety measures and it has gone potty.”
The Tourist Information Centre had already sold 1,000 of the books but when Mark’s wife Theresa rang to see how many more they wanted, she was given the news. “I laughed because I thought they were joking,” she said. “The Tourist Information Centre has been more than helpful to us. It’s not them, it’s the council.” Swindon Council spokeswoman Victoria Tagg said the insurance was necessary to protect against potential claims. “All suppliers of services and products to Swindon Council must have public liability insurance,” she said. “This is standard insurance industry and local authority practice. The cover we require is normally for £5m but we are prepared to reduce this to £2m for some smaller suppliers, and have done so on many occasions.”