Bradford MP David Ward welcomes insurance summit (From Bradford Telegraph and Argus)
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Bradford MP David Ward welcomes insurance summit
8:50am Wednesday 15th February 2012 in Local By Tanya O'Rourke
A Downing Street summit tackling the soaring cost of car insurance has been welcomed by Bradford MP David Ward, who has been campaigning for more affordable premiums.
It comes as insurance claims for whiplash in the UK are reaching £2 billion a year, with 1,500 claims being made every day.
The claims add £90 a year to the average car insurance premium, leading to Downing Street branding Britain the “whiplash capital of Europe”.
Ministers were examining calls by the Commons Transport Committee for a higher threshold for claims, using factors such as speed or more extensive medical evidence.
Other issues included the wider use of in-car monitoring of young drivers, reform of the “no win, no fee” system and reducing lawyers’ fees for small personal accident cases.
Mr Cameron said: “I am determined to tackle this damaging compensation culture which has been pushing up premiums.
“I want to stop trivial claims, free up businesses from the stranglehold of health and safety red tape and look at ways we can bring costs down.”
Motorists in Bradford suffered a hike of 17.1 per cent in comprehensive car insurance premiums last year – the biggest percentage increase in the country.
Mr Ward, Liberal Democrat MP for Bradford East, organised a summit into car insurance prices, held in Bradford last year, and investigated why costs were soaring.
It was sparked by complaints from his constituents, one of whom was quoted £26,000 to insure his son’s first car.
He called for a ban on referral fees – a step the Government announced in September it would take – meaning personal injury solicitors will no longer be able to pay for the details of people who have been involved in car accidents Mr Ward said the summit was “great news” for motorists in Bradford.
“We desperately need to get the cost of personal injury claims under control,” he said. “The number of whiplash claims has been going up and up while the number of accidents has been falling for decades. That is clearly the result of fraud – we have allowed Britain to become the whiplash capital of Europe.”
Otto Thoresen, director general of the Association of British Insurers, said: “This is a unique opportunity to highlight to the Prime Minister the unacceptable cost pressures that insurers are facing, and what needs to be done to ensure that the UK’s honest motorists get a better deal.”
Comments(14)
Joedavid
says...
11:57am Wed 15 Feb 12
Try to drive correctly in Bradford and you putting yourself up to be run into.
angry bradfordian
says...
12:19pm Wed 15 Feb 12
Compare this with the rest of them who are to busy making cheap political points against each other and only get quoted when they've got a pointless soundbite to make.
Victor Clayton
says...
12:24pm Wed 15 Feb 12
angry bradfordian wrote:hear hear. i wrote to my MP, Marsha Singh. he could not have bee less interested. he was then in the T&A a couple of weeks later saying we should not be too hard on the law breaker. too hard - we could hardly be any softer.
He's not my MP unfortunately, but I'd like to thank Mr Ward for doing something constructive for the people of Bradford. Compare this with the rest of them who are to busy making cheap political points against each other and only get quoted when they've got a pointless soundbite to make.
angry bradfordian
says...
12:39pm Wed 15 Feb 12
Victor Clayton wrote:I'd agree, as he's also my MP.
angry bradfordian wrote:hear hear. i wrote to my MP, Marsha Singh. he could not have bee less interested. he was then in the T&A a couple of weeks later saying we should not be too hard on the law breaker. too hard - we could hardly be any softer.
He's not my MP unfortunately, but I'd like to thank Mr Ward for doing something constructive for the people of Bradford. Compare this with the rest of them who are to busy making cheap political points against each other and only get quoted when they've got a pointless soundbite to make.
I believe he's currently ill but at the last election I didn't even get a flyer through the letterbox, never mind a visit to ask questions about his policies. I can't remember the last time I saw him quoted on anything.
Victor Clayton
says...
12:58pm Wed 15 Feb 12
Superdoo
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1:23pm Wed 15 Feb 12
Yorkshire Lass
says...
4:11pm Wed 15 Feb 12
Superdoo wrote:Good on Bradford MP David Ward bringing these insurance problems to be noticed by the Government. However, one point that was not mentioned is the very high number of drivers in Bradford who drive without either tax, unsurance or MOTs' putting all the legal drivers at risk if they have an accident. I do not feel that the fines, when the driver is caught, are high enough and certainly does not deter them to drive illegally again. The Insurance premiums are far in excess of the fines and therefore it is the legal drivers who are penalised through no fault of their own. How does this work?
He's wasting his time - all the ambulance chaser companies + all the crash for cash fraudsters + insurance company referral schemes = easy money for scumbags making my insurance (on which I've never claimed) more expensive year on year.
sbr___
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5:33pm Wed 15 Feb 12
angry bradfordian
says...
5:42pm Wed 15 Feb 12
sbr___ wrote:Dangerous driving is taken as seriously as insurance fraud- NOT VERY SERIOUSLY.
MP David Ward is missing the important issue. People drive unsafely in Bradford - speeding, undertaking, agressive driving is rife. Bradford will still have (and deserve) high insurance premiums until dangerous driving is taken as seriously as insurance fraud.
As traffic policing in Bradford appears to have disappeared in favour of speed cameras & camera vans there seems to absolutely nothing stopping a large number of Bradford drivers ignoring speed limits, traffic lights and general manners.
It must be months since I last saw any traffic police in Bradford.
spinnekop
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5:52pm Wed 15 Feb 12
johnhem
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6:11pm Wed 15 Feb 12
spinnekop
says...
9:41pm Wed 15 Feb 12
Pak-Bantam
says...
9:52pm Wed 15 Feb 12
This is just a carousel which insurance companies ultimately benefit from.
mad matt says...
11:40am Wed 15 Feb 12
If I lived down south where a friend of mine has moved to, my insurance would be just 20% of what I have to pay here.