A market trader sets up in somebody else's space, beside strangers, in weather, and takes it down again the same day. The organiser or the council will not let a pitch be occupied without a certificate, and the reason is obvious from the first windy morning: a gazebo that lifts, a table that collapses or a rail that falls is a third party claim in a crowded space.
The certificate is the pitch condition
Market operators, councils and event organisers require public liability and name the limit, commonly two million pounds for a small market and five million for larger or council run ones. Many require the certificate in advance of the booking and some require their own interest to be noted. Street trading itself is licensed by the local authority, and the licence and the insurance are usually asked for together.
Wind, structures and the stall itself
Gazebos and stalls are the characteristic claim: an inadequately weighted structure in a gust injures somebody or damages a neighbouring trader's stock. Insurers ask what structure is used and how it is secured, and organisers increasingly set their own rules about weights and tie downs. The stall and its contents are your property and need a separate section; liability answers for what it does to other people.
Stock, transport and the overnight problem
Stock moves between a store, a van and a pitch several times a week, and cover has to follow it: at the pitch, in transit and at the storage address. Theft from a van overnight is the routine loss, and the conditions about locking and parking decide it. Traders storing at home should tell both their household insurer and the business one, because a household policy will usually exclude the stock.
Food, if you sell it
Selling food brings product liability, registration with the local authority and allergen information duties, and hot food brings the gas and fire questions a catering unit has. A trader who started with crafts and added a coffee machine has changed the risk, and it is a declaration rather than a detail.
Questions people ask about public liability insurance for market traders
Do market traders need public liability insurance?
In practice yes. Market operators, councils and event organisers require it as a condition of the pitch, usually naming two or five million pounds, and street trading licences are commonly issued alongside evidence of it.
Does the policy cover my stall and stock?
Not under liability. The stall, the gazebo and the stock are your property and need their own section, covering them at the pitch, in transit and at the storage address.
What do insurers ask about gazebos?
What structure is used and how it is weighted or tied down, because a lifted gazebo in a crowd is the characteristic claim on this trade. Organisers increasingly set their own rules about it too.
What changes if I sell food?
Product liability, registration with the local authority and allergen information duties all apply, and hot food brings the gas and fire questions a catering unit faces. Adding food to a craft stall is a declaration.