A TRADITIONAL fun event which has provided enjoyment for many schoolchildren has fallen as flat as a pancake, after insurance stipulations forced its cancellation this year.
For several years, Okehampton Primary School pupils have taken part in the Shrove Tuesday pancake race in Red Lion Yard, and before that, St James Street.
However, it appears pancakes in Okehampton could now have been tossed for the last time . . .
Organiser Derek Godfrey-Brown has had to cancel the event — which would have been held in Red Lion Yard on February 24 — following a detailed risk assessment which advised that 25 marshals would have to line the route of the race, to ensure public safety on top of the paying of a sizeable premium.
Mr Godfrey-Brown said: 'A pancake race on Shrove Tuesday is a bit of fun and most of us need as much of that as we can to get us through our lives.'
He said the children who took part had always enjoyed the event. The pancake race had to be postponed three years ago during the foot and mouth crisis, but drew a large crowd the following year when it was revived.
Mr Godfrey-Brown said it was now necessary to be fully covered for such events with comprehensive public liability insurance, which was only issued following a detailed risk assessment and the payment of a substantial premium.
He said the assessment was not a requirement imposed by the local insurance interests, but by underwriters who were not prepared to vary any of the stated terms and conditions.
'They do, of course, have to cover themselves against spurious claims by an ever-increasing litigious public, who look on a claim as a substitute for not winning the lottery,' added Mr Godfrey-Brown.
He said that last year he met the cost of public liability insurance himself, which was £75, but this year the best quote he could get was £280.
'It's okay for big organisations who can get substantial reductions, but for me, a single punter, the cost is still huge.
'I cannot ask the children to pay — if we ever do it again we would have to get a sponsor. There is no doubt that Red Lion Yard is the best location — other suggested sites have been more problematical.'
Mr Godfrey-Brown said carnivals had gone from paying hundreds of pounds to thousands of pounds for insurance and it was getting to a point where people were just put off organising anything.
Town mayor Christine Marsh said it was another example of bureaucracy ruining simple pleasures.
'I have taken part in the pancake race myself and it is a bit of fun,' she said. 'I cannot think of a more safe and better location than Red Lion Yard — it is not as if it is on the road.'
Graeme Trudgill from the British Insurance Brokers' Association said it was a shame insurance was needed for a small fun event like a pancake race but the UK was an increasingly litigious society and people wanted to cover their backs should an accident occur.