A NOTTS football club says it is devastated after insurers refused a £9,000 claim after a break-in.
Carlton Town FC, based in Stoke Lane, Gedling, was broken into on Friday, August 3. Troy Jenkins, 38, of Lenton, and James Welsh, 37, of Dunkirk, both pleaded guilty to theft, after they were caught on the club's CCTV cameras.
They were sentenced at Nottingham Crown Court on September 4. Jenkins received a three-year prison sentence and Welsh got 18 months after the club was ransacked, stock taken from the bar, pool tables and quiz machines smashed and sockets ripped from walls.
A new kit and a charity box were also stolen. The club wanted to claim £9,000 from its insurers Everest Underwriting, expecting a payout of £8,000 following excess. But the firm rejected the claim. It argued that because the club's nominated contact person for the alarm system was in Wales when the burglary happened he was unable to take "reasonable precautions" to safeguard the property.
Club chairman Mick Garton said: "I was pretty low after the incident itself, but this has just rubbed salt into the wounds.
"The fact the criminals are behind bars and unable to rob other properties means we have saved other insurance payouts which would no doubt have followed if they had continued with their crime spree.
"The fact they were caught due to our fantastic CCTV system, which is not even an insurance condition, makes the decision even harder to accept. We have been devastated by this. We are mostly made up of volunteers at the club who put in our own time and money. We are a community football club.
"We are left in a position where we have got to work harder than we already do to try to raise money to pay invoices.''
Mr Garton said the club had appealed against the decision but was told it had been rejected. Commercial manager Tim Harris said: "In 20 years involved in football, this is the most devastating decision I can remember. It's difficult enough trying to raise money in this economic climate and now having to make up this shortfall, I can't quite believe it."
Everest said in its letter that the intruders had cut the alarm line, prompting a call to Bob Sharpe, the club's nominated keyholder, at 11.20pm.
They say Mr Sharpe, who checked CCTV images on his phone in Wales, should have attended the club site immediately and could have prevented further damage.
They say because he had failed to do so he was in breach of general condition 10, which "stipulates that all reasonable precautions should be taken to safeguard the property and mitigate loss."
No one from Everest was available for comment.
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