Salvage at Lloyd's
YOU can go to sea in a sieve, like the Jum- blies, or you can join the wrong syndicate at Lloyd's of London. The luckless members of Lloyd's watched as the water rushed in, and could see their worldly goods going down with them for the third time, when bucketing over the waves towards them came a lifeboat. 'All aboard the Action Group!' its cheery crew cried. 'The master of your ship was negligent! He left the plug out! Together we can scupper him!' Only later did the members realise quite how much, in the best traditions of the sea, they would be charged for salvage. One of my readers found this out on board the Mer- rett Action Group: 'I voted against the remuneration of the committee. £1,859,000 was the sum asked for, £250,000 of this to be the chairman's share. In the event, Lloyd's reduced this sum to £660,000. How- ever, the committee are still looking for the original figure as "a liability of the associa- tion". When Stephen Merrett's payment of £1 million to the association is completed later this year, it would appear that this sum is already earmarked.' Next, I suppose, we shall see an Action Group Action Group bucketing towards us, but my reader would have been better off with the Jumblies.
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