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Coris News January 2008- Special UK Edition
14/03/2008
This month we have produced a United Kingdom special edition of Coris News.
The biggest City in the United Kingdom is of course London, with a population of around 13 million. The United Kingdom
has an estimated total population of 60.5 million. The UK joined the European Union in 1973.
Motor insurance is compulsory for any motorised vehicle using a public road, there are few exceptions.
Minimum limits of insurance cover are as follows:
Personal Injury: Unlimited for each victim
Material Damages: £1,000,000 for each single loss event.
Liability
The basis of compensation lies in the law of tort. Liability is established where there is negligence, together with a duty of care to the
victim. Assumptions of negligence only exist in exceptional circumstances and contributory negligence limits liability.
Limitation
The limitation period is three years for personal injury claims and six years for material damage claims (5 years in
Scotland).
Guarantee Fund
The Guarantee Fund compensates third party victims in the following cases:
when the damage is caused by an untraced vehicle the Fund covers- both material damage and personal injury (with an applicable excess of £300.00).
When the damage is caused by an uninsured vehicle, the Fund covers- material damages and personal injury (with an applicable excess of £300.00) .
Legal Costs
Costs follow the event and in non litigated cases they are recoverable for personal injury claims exceeding £1000.00 and material damage claims exceeding £5000.00. Costs are recoverable but negotiable. If an agreement cannot be reached it may be necessary for a Court to decide.
General
Loss of use, hire car charges, recovery charges and depreciation are all recoverable. With regards to hire car fees, these can be significant in certain cases where credit hire companies are involved.
Crossing Borders Safely
Increased driving between countries is leading to more collisions throughout Europe, according to a report published on 14 November 2007 by the Association of British Insurers.
The ABI, working with a variety of motoring and road safety groups, has developed proposals to tackle the problem. These include better guidance for motorists on road traffic laws in different countries, greater information sharing between countries to enable tighter enforcement, and a review of licensing standards throughout the European Union.
Key findings from European Drivers - Crossing Borders Safely show that:
- In the UK over 18,000 collisions a year are caused by drivers coming from continental Europe. European heavy goods vehicles are three times more likely to be involved in an accident than UK HGVs.
- Britons driving in continental Europe caused over 5,000 accidents in 2006.
- In Switzerland, cross-border drivers commit half of all traffic offences.
- In France, cross-border drivers are responsible for a quarter of all traffic offences in border areas, and 15% of accidents throughout the country.
Stephen Haddrill, the ABI's Director General, said:
"Greater movement throughout Europe must not mean more dangerous roads. With 45 major differences in the road laws between Member States, it is hardly surprising that cross-border driving is leading to more collisions. Our proposals focus on better information sharing and law enforcement. We call on the UK Government and the European Commission to recognise the scale of the problem and build on the first steps they have taken to ensure that drivers can travel more safely throughout Europe."
Source: The Association of British Insurers, 14.11.07
EUROPEAN DRINK DRIVE LIMITS (Grams of alcohol per litre of blood)
0.8g = UK, Ireland, Luxembourg, Malta
0.5g = Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany Greece, Italy, Latvia, Netherlands, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain
0.4g = Lithuania
0.2g = Norway, Poland, Sweden
Zero tolerance = Estonia, Romania, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Hungary
Source: European Road Safety Observatory
