Outline: When hiring a van through the Arts University film course, students are expected to front the cost of the excess if any damage were to occur. This can be up to the value of £350 which students are expected to pay. I for one cannot afford this. As a result of an accident with minor damage (see pictures in pdf on facebook group) on one of the film production films, a group of students are now potentially liable to pay £700 worth of damage for a couple of scratches. This is due to the courses high excess fees - if these fees were lowered the price students would pay would not be as high. Moreover, in this particular case, the damage was not the students fault (see pdf document on facebook group for details), therefore should students be liable for this cost? Proposed Change: It is fundamental to the BA film production courses’ success that equipment can be transported to quality locations via van hire. Without quality locations the films made by the university will be reduced in capacity and as such this will not look good for the courses reputation and may be a factor in deterring future students coming onto the course. Therefore, as the course relies on the students to hire the vans, the course should also expect to front the cost of excess. The film production course needs to invest in what is fundamental to its smooth operation. Van hire and students driving the van is paramount for the films to go ahead and run smoothly. As such the university should have a no excess insurance policy as there are bound to be accidents with student drivers who have never driven vans whilst students simply cannot afford this excess. The film course recently invested in two Arri Alexa cameras costing upwards of £80,000. This investment is for purely aesthetic reasons and is not fundamental to the course as we have a number of digital cameras at our disposal. Equipment transport is fundamental, as is van hire, As are the students who drive the vans and transport the equipment. Thus, the vans insurance including any excess is a fundamental cost, unlike the £80,000 cameras. How you can help: By voting in this petition we can express our concerns surrounding this policy. Currently, every film student is liable to pay £350 worth of damage if a small scratch appears on a van after hire. Therefore, this policy needs to change. If we all group together and express our concerns we can make steps to change this.