Motorists who live in an inner-city area have always paid more to insure their vehicles and have come to accept that perceived higher levels of car crime and road accidents mean their premiums are bumped up far beyond those who, for example, live out in the leafy suburbs or country villages.

There is, however, increasing evidence that many local drivers are being penalised simply for living in an area that has a Bradford postcode.

They may live out in Bingley, or Keighley, or perhaps in a quiet, rural area right on the outside edge of the district, but because of the letters BD in their address they are being forced to pay higher insurance premiums than people in comparable locales in other parts of the country.

This will be down to prejudice and a total lack of understanding on the part of the insurance companies, who perhaps cannot understand that an area the size of the Bradford district will be home to many diverse communities and social hierarchies.

Some areas of Bradford - like areas in every city or large conurbation across the country - will have, of course, experienced bad car crime in the past.

But we are constantly being told by the police that car crime in Bradford is falling, and that fewer vehicles are being stolen or broken into. Those motorists who hand over their insurance payments every year or every month will tell you that such good news has not prompted a similar fall in premiums.

That communities continue to be blighted by crime that has apparently fallen and that other areas suffer because they share a postcode with them is not something that drivers should have to legislate for.