Badminton cancellation to cost insurers £3 million

The Badminton Horse Trials in Gloucestershire in the West of England have been cancelled after prolonged heavy rain and flooding. It is expected that insurers will pick up the £3 million bill and full refunds will be made to ticket holders. As estimated 180,000 were expected to attend the annual event in what would have been its 63rd year and local business including hotels, bars and shops are estimated to have lost tens of millions of pounds in revenues, and the event's charities will also lose out. It is expected that in addition to the refund of ticket income, no sponsorship or television rights revenue will be collected. The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge were due to attend the event which would have profiled Olympic competitors. It is the wettest and coldest April in many parts of England since records began