TIGER attack victim Nigel Wesson paid a terrible price to work with big cats.

Now, as the circus worker continues his recovery after losing his arm, he must be hoping that his insurance cover is also fully paid up.

For insurance in Mr Wesson's line of work is not cheap.

When your job happens to put you in charge of a 25-stone Bengal tiger, hungry insurance companies are unlikely to be beating at your door with discounts.

Many insurance companies say the cost of insurance against injury for a big cat circus worker like Mr Wesson would be at least £50 a month.

Robert Baillie, a product manager with Friends Provident, said: "It is a high-risk occupation as these terrible events suggest. We would place someone working with tigers in class four, along with zoo keepers. There would be a further rating because of the exceptional nature of the job.

"Insurance companies will provide cover for just about any occupation. It's a matter of what premium payments people are prepared to pay."

Before his injuries, Friends Provident say a monthly premium of £49.20 a month would have provided Mr Wesson with £200 a week until the age of 60 in the event of a serious attack.

But there would be conditions such as no payment for the first 13 weeks and no benefit if he returned to his old circus job.

The fact it was the second terrible tragedy this year to hit his employers, the famous circus family, the Chipperfields, will also have been taken into account by insurance firms.

In January, Richard Chipperfield junior was left with brain injuries after being mauled in the United States. Unfortunately, Mr Wesson had been at the Chipperfield circus family's winter headquarters at Heythrop, near Chipping Norton, for only ten days before the attack. He was, however, an experienced keeper.

If he failed to take out personal cover for his all-too hazardous new job, Mr Wesson will now find himself anxiously awaiting news of Chipperfields' own policies.

Much will depend on whether the firm has a group permanent health insurance policy, covering employees working with dangerous animals.

But securing payment from his employer's insurers could yet prove more difficult.

After the accident Mike Tunnicliffe, a spokesman for the family, suggested that Mr Wesson broke an "unwritten rule" by putting his arm into the animal's cage.

Mr Tunnicliffe said: "Mr Wesson seems to have lost concentration for that second and we are all extremely sorry."

But Chipperfields Circus was unwilling to give details of its insurance arrangements.

Mr Wesson has had to have his arm amputated above the elbow.

Ultimately, he may be entitled to industrial injuries disablement benefit.

Last week the John Radcliffe Hospital saw a frantic bidding war between national newspapers for Mr Wesson's story immediately after the accident.

Figures of up to £20,000 were discussed.

But for once nobody was too ready to condemn a beneficiary of tabloid cheque-book journalism. High price for a high-risk rider INSURANCE companies see professional sportsmen such as Simon Wigg as a high risk.

Simon has been a professional speedway rider for nearly 20 years. He was the darling of Oxford Cheetahs before breaking his neck in Italy in 1990.

The injury kept him out of the sport for six months. And if getting insurance was never easy before, it has proved costly ever since.

Simon, who now rides for the Kings Lynn Knights, pays £120 a month for insurance cover. In the event of losing a limb he would receive £40,000. For less serious injuries he would be entitled to £480 a week for six months.

Simon, 37, said: "Someone will always insure you - at a price. Some riders settle for the mandatory minimum set down by the Speedway Promoters' Association with the Speedway Control Board. But it is not enough and you have to find your own cover." Fears are hot air PROFESSIONAL balloonist Robin Batchelor encountered a few problems on his first visit to an insurance broker but says safety worries about his job are a load of hot air.

"The public's perception of ballooning is that it is a dangerous pastime but it is actually safer than crossing the road or riding a bike, says Robin, of Towersey, near Thame.

"When I went to a brokers they reacted to the name balloon pilot but once I gave them the facts about how safe it is I was awarded a low premium."

Robin, 49, has not had a serious accident in 25 years of ballooning despite being asked to fly for film shoots and in increasingly unusual-shaped advertising balloons. He pays £36 a week for accident cover up to a maximum of £20,000. "You have a few clumsy landings but that is about it," says Robin. "I guess the worst accident I have had is when I landed in a hornets' nest in the Brazilian jungle. Very painful!" Is your career a hazard? PEOPLE'S jobs are split into four categories by insurance companies, according to how dangerous the job is considered.

The least risky jobs are put in Class 1, so premium payments are much cheaper than for Class 4. Very high-risk jobs can be uninsurable.

Examples:

Class 1: Doctors, accountants, secretaries, acupuncturists, air traffic controllers, judges, librarians, opticians

Class 2: Nurses, sales reps, journalists, playgroup leaders, hairdressers, midwives, physiotherapists, funeral directors, psychiatrists

Class 3: Driving instructors, traffic wardens, electricians, greengrocers, fishmongers, social workers, teachers

Class 4: Painters and decorators, farmers, prison officers, motor mechanics, brewery workers, carpet fitters, cleaners, tractor drivers, shopfitters

More dangerous than Class 4, and likely to be refused personal permanent health insurance: Publicans, taxi drivers, bus drivers, window cleaners, labourers, security guards, hospital porters

Mostly uninsurable: Professional sports people, divers, scaffolders, circus workers

Police, fire and ambulance workers usually have their own local authority insurance scheme to cover them

Monthly insurance premiums payable to receive £1,000-a-month income after accident (for 30-year-old earning £20,000 a year if insurance payment delayed until four weeks after incident)

Class 1: £25

Class 2: £40

Class 3: £75

Class 4: £98

(Source: Antony Weil Insurance Consultants, independent financial advisers, in Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire)

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