Motor insurance

I thought extortion was illegal! Wrong! It’s alive and well and actually thriving. It’s called motor insurance.

Yesterday I phoned my insurance brokers because my renewal was due in just five days time and I had yet to receive the annual reminder and request for the new renewal premium. Perhaps the delay was due to industrial action by postal workers. My insurers were proposing to charge me £237 Sterling, a substantial increase on previous years,  to renew the third party, fire and theft insurance on the basis of the following facts:

Car: 21 year old BMW 318, 1800cc, value £200 if I’m lucky.
Sole driver: Born 1940, full licence 47 years, no accidents, claims or convictions, never refused insurance.
Annual mileage under 600 (yes, less than 50 per month but this is essential mileage for which there is no alternative).

In view of my record I cannot see any justification for paying a premium higher than the value of the car and especially as there is also an excess of £120 (this is the amount of any claim that I would have to pay before the insurers contributed). Also, I have the maximum available no claims bonus. They asked me whether I wanted to include no claims bonus protection, at extra cost of course. This would enable me to keep my bonus in the event of a claim. I call it downright impertinence (I could put this more strongly but some of my readers are polite young ladies of a sensitive disposition). I pointed out that I have protected my no claims bonus perfectly adequately all by myself for 47 years without their paid-for assistance. 

There must be thousands of drivers with my sort of record. Isn’t it time that the insurance industry offered us a better deal, especially as we are the age group who are probably best placed to use our cars less and public transport more?

Yesterday, after discussing the above, I asked the lady on the phone whether there was anything I, or they, could do to reduce this premium. She offered to transfer me to the renewals department. I then got that irritating choice of options to be reached by pressing various buttons, all of which were for various parts of the CLAIMS department except for the last one “All other enquiries”. I had no choice but to press the last one and was then given several more options including the renewals department, which I duly chose. After a total silence of several seconds a recorded message informed me that the claims department had closed five minutes earlier, at 8pm. This was despite the fact that on the insurer’s paperwork it clearly stated that closing time for the renewals department was 9pm.

Suitably disgusted I hung up and phoned again today. I explained to the man who took my call what had happened the previous day and that that phone call had not resulted in an opportunity to review the proposed premium – but there wasn’t as much as a hint of an apology from him. Instead he asked whether I had sent my cheque! I  reminded him that I didn’t yet know what premium would apply since there had been no opportunity to see whether the stated premium of £237 could be reduced. I then asked him what effect it would have on my insurance if the postal strikes caused my cheque to arrive after the renewal date. He told me that I would be uninsured until they received my cheque and asked me again whether I had sent my cheque! I was getting fed up with this conversation by this point and asked him, quite sharply, whether he was listening to me or what? The conversation ended shortly afterwards.

If I need to continue my motor insurance next year I will be arranging it some weeks in advance (especially if renewal falls due immediately after a holiday) and it won’t be the same insurers.  To support such appalling service is to encourage it – not a good idea in any context if it can be avoided.

The Gurkha Justice Campaign

After a short holiday I have returned to good news and am delighted to include here the following email from Joanna Lumley on behalf of the Gurkha Justice Campaign:

“At midday today, Home Secretary Jacqui Smith made the announcement to the House of Commons that the Gurkha Justice Campaign have been fighting for for years. All ex-Gurkhas who have served more than 4 years in the British Army will have the right to settle in the UK if they wish.

“After such a long fight, with huge ups and downs, this is a superb announcement.

“We simply would not have won this fight without the massive, overwhelming support of all those who have supported our campaign. To the hundreds of thousands of people who have signed Gurkha Justice petitions, lobbied their MP, campaigned, attended rallies and marches – thank you so much to you all. This is your victory. It would not have happened without you.

“The Government has now responded to that campaign after court cases, votes in Parliament, a huge media campaign and, most importantly, massive public support. I am delighted, and humbled, at what has been achieved by our remarkable team.

“The whole campaign has been based on the belief that those who have fought and been prepared to die for our country should have the the right to live in our country. We owe them a debt of honour – a debt that will now be paid.

“With warmest good wishes,

“Joanna
www.gurkhajustice.org.uk“

There was also an e-petition on the 10 Downing Street website and The Government has published the following response to that petition:

“We received a petition asking:

“We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to give all Ex Gurkha soldiers and their families who have served our country British citizenship on leaving the service.”

“The Government’s response

“For many years, the Brigade of Gurkhas have shown bravery, commitment and dedication in serving this country, and continue to do so on operations today.

“This Government has done more for Gurkhas than any other. It was the first Government to grant settlement to Gurkhas and the first to equalise pay and pensions, with over 6,000 former Gurkhas and their families already given the right to live in the UK.  In April we took steps to increase the number of Gurkhas eligible to come to this country by 4,000 or, including families, 10,000 people.

“The House of Commons has now expressed a clear view that all Gurkhas should be entitled to settle in the United Kingdom if that is what they wish.

“This Government respects the will of the House of Commons and recognises the strong feeling and public support for this cause.  Consequently, we have announced today that all former Gurkhas who served for longer than four years will be eligible to apply for settlement in the United Kingdom.  They will also be entitled to bring their spouses and dependent minor children.  There will be no time limit on applications. 

“This scheme recognises the unique nature of the service given to the UK by the Brigade of Gurkhas and is offered to them on an exceptional basis.

“We believe that in announcing the new policy today, we have met their concerns and those of Parliament.”

Gurkha Justice Campaign

The Gurkha Justice Campaign seems to be making some headway thanks to the splendid efforts of the actress and leading activist Joanna Lumley. She is reported to have  had an encouraging meeting with the Prime Minister yesterday after which she pinned her hopes on the belief that Gordon Brown is a man of integrity. On that particular point I am inclined to agree with her. However, I am also of the opinion that he is badly advised and surrounded by a cabinet and staff that I wouldn’t employ as tea boys. 
Then today Joanna is reported to have “ambushed” Immigration Minister Phil Woollass as he was about to give a press conference. Apparently they then had a private discussion and spoke to the press afterwards as you can see and hear on this video at the BBC News website.
I daresay that the private discussion was of the “full and frank” variety. One rarely sees a government minister looking so much like the naughty schoolboy being put straight by the headmistress.
It seems to me that The Government continues to drag its feet on this issue. If those who fought, and were prepared to die, for the United Kingdon should be allowed to live in the UK, if they want to, what does it matter whether they retired fron the Brigade of Gurkhas before or after 1997. Why is The Government still going ahead with reviewing 1,500 cases – this is irrelevant – and why, after the review, are they intending to drag the whole thing out even further by revising the rules that they announced only days ago. It is all unnecessary because ALL retired Gurkhas should be entitled to live in the UK with their close families as of immediately. No ifs, buts or maybes, no bureaucratic feet dragging, no long-winded administrative nonsense from the Civil Service and the lawyers and the rest of the parasites. This was, in effect, the solution that was voted for by our representatives in Parliament only last week. Just do it!

New Cyclists’ Touring Club Campaign.

The CTC has just launched a new campaign to encourage more cycling in the UK, as reported in Cycling Weekly and The Guardian newspaper. I don’t know how long these links will remain valid but I thought them worth posting here.

UK politicians learn about Netherlands cycling

UK Parliamentary Cycling Group finds out about cycling in The Netherlands (see video here) in April 2009.

petition in support of struck-off nurse

Yesterday, the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) launched a public petition in support of the nurse who was struck off after exposing poor patient care on the BBC’s Panorama programme. RCN member, Margaret Haywood was removed from the register of nurses by a Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) panel, which means that she can no longer work as a nurse in the UK.
It is alleged that she photographed, secretly, evidence of the poor patient care on her hospital ward in Sussex and then supplied the photographs to the BBC and took part in the Panorama programme. She is reported to have tried all the proper channels first and to have resorted to taking the photographs etc. when all else failed to bring about improvements. She is also reported to have obtained permission from the patients or their families before allowing the photographs to be published.
Margaret Haywood has received numerous messages of support through the RCN since this matter came to light and also many sympathetic comments following online newpaper reports. She is also receiving legal representation through the RCN and her legal options are being considered.
I have been following this story with particular interest because it is not by any means the first in recent years involving poor nursing standards in the National Health Service and because one of my relatives suffered from a similar form of sheer negligence on the part of nursing staff some ten years ago in Liverpool. The problem is not uncommon and the various bureaucratic bodies, including the Department of Health, have done little or nothing that has improved matters over many years. Nurse Haywood is not the first “whistleblower”, even in recent times, as explained on the excellent blog by The Jobbing Doctor.
That the Nursing and Midwifery Council saw fit to bring Margaret Haywood’s career to a halt for actions which were, ultimately, intended to serve the interests of her patients, where all else had failed, is nothing short of ridiculous. The “panel” who made this decision have lost the plot and the lot of them should be put out to grass. Nurse Haywood should be reinstated, promoted and put in charge of nursing standards with the authority to overrule all those who have ignored the situation to date. She has been nursing for 25 years, just long enough to remember how things were done when patients were fed adequately, not left in agony for want of drugs, not in fear of their lives due to MRSA and C.Diff. and actually nursed – a word which is simply not understood by so many graduates from university lecture halls, and their “management”, whose impact in recent times on the once proud NHS has been an ever increasing disaster for all to see.

The Royal College of Nursing is encouraging fellow nurses and members of the public to show their support for Margaret Haywood in one of the following ways:

• Sign the online petition here: http://www.gopetition.com/online/27030.html or through the link on the RCN website: www.rcn.org.uk
• Join the Facebook group “Margaret Haywood – show your support for whistleblowing nurse“

Twitter, the busker and the “lost generation”

 I have been signed up to Twitter for almost two months and it has been both entertaining and informative. This evening I spent some time sorting out a small pile of sheet music and it reminded me to look on Twitter for others with similar musical interests. This led me to various online stories and I couldn’t resist including links to two of them here. The first is about musical education in UK schools and it reminded me how lucky I had been. The second is about that brilliant violinist, Joshua Bell and I won’t say any more in case I spoil the story.

Speeding case mishandled?

A disturbing case was reported, in the TV news today, of a young motorist who was accused of speeding at 98mph in a 14-year-old Honda Civic. The alleged offence was recorded on a speed camera but the motorist knew that he was not guilty and decided to fight the case, claiming that his car was incapable of reaching 98mph.

The pictures recorded by the camera were shown during the news bulletin and while the Honda was in the picture there was also an error message in view.

When the motorist told the magistrate that his car was incapable of 98mph, the magistrate told him to prove it. So he took the car to a performance testing centre (normally used by much more exotic machinery) where the maximum speed was found to be somewhere in the mid-80s. Whereupon the charge against him was dropped but the police then decided that they wanted to charge him with speeding at 80mph but this came to nothing.

Perhaps this post illustrates my ignorance of the law, in which case I will be happy to receive comments from anyone who can bring me up-to-date. Otherwise I conclude that there are several disturbing questions arising from this case.

First, why was this case brought at all when it was clear that the camera was in some sort of error state at the critical time? And having dug themselves into this hole, why did the police later want to charge him with 80mph speeding – again with no usable evidence?

Secondly, why didn’t the police or prosecutor have the common sense just to check a few basic facts – like whether a 14-year-old Honda Civic COULD reach 98mph without rather obvious under-bonnet modifications, and whether such modifications were present in this instance.

Thirdly, aren’t we innocent until proved guilty under English law? If so, surely the magistrate was wrong to ask the owner to prove his assertion that his car was incapabloe of 98mph. Instead, the onus was on the prosecutor to prove that it was capable at the time in question.

When this news item ended I found myself wondering who paid this motorist’s expenses and legal costs and whether the magistrate, police and prosecutor involved will be called to account for their mishandling of this case.

No recession online?

We are supposed to be in a recession. Potential customers like you and I are said to be hanging on to our money, worried about how much worse it might get. Retailers are losing business. Some are closing down. Factories are not getting enough orders from retailers. Factories are closing and jobs are being lost. People without their usual income cannot pay their mortgages and are losing their homes.

It’s serious! Oh, really? Well you could have fooled me. During the past six weeks I have had a few experiences of retailers which, in “normal” times, I might shrug off and attribute to bad manners, ignorance and the lack of accountability which, these days, is usually blamed on underpaid and undercommitted  staff. But these are not normal times. These are times when retailers need every customer that they can get.

This week’s example of abysmal customer service deserves  a mention. I had been looking for some rather specialised equipment for the home. The details are unimportant except to say that I anticipated spending around £400-£500, possibly more, with whichever retailer provided the goods and, having failed to find what I wanted locally, I took a bit of time to study the websites of several potential suppliers. Some of those websites were no use to me either because they failed to indicate which pieces of equipment were compatible with other items or because they didn’t seem to have a full range. Others were better because equipment was offered in ready-made packages which a layman such as myself could understand but there still seemed to me to be gaps in the information supplied. So I emailed what seemed to be the most useful of these suppliers, keeping my enquiry as short as possible and to the point. Three full working days have since passed and I have received no reply.

I think three days is already too long to wait for a reply to an email in these circumstances. So there is one £400-£500 sale that will not be going to that supplier within the next week or two. I wonder how many more there might be? And, if that supplier had a retail outlet in the local shopping centre instead of online, would they ignore potential customers who came into the shop with their enquiries until they walked away in disgust?

The Gurkha Justice Campaign

The latest email from Joanna Lumley about the Gurkha Justice Campaign reads as follows:

“On Thursday, I will be in Parliament Square, Westminster at 11am before handing in the Gurkha Justice petition.
 
“We’ve had fantastic support from across the country, and the petition we’ll be handing in will be one of the biggest ever collected in the country – in a little over six weeks. Thank you so much for the support.
 
“Our team are sorting the petition ready to hand in, but they tell me any signatures up until Wednesday night will be included. A really big last burst of signatures would be fantastic – please remind any friends, family and colleagues to make sure they sign at www.gurkhajustice.org.uk before 9pm on Wednesday!
 
“I really hope that, on Thursday, the Government will finally bow to the pressure from our thousands upon thousands of petition signatories from across the country, to the Home Office Select Committee, and to the High Court, all of whom have backed justice for Gurkhas.

“If there was ever a time to stand with us, then that time is now.
 
“A really big turnout on the day will really add to the pressure of the petition. It will show how strongly we all feel about righting this wrong. If you can come along to Parliament Square in Westminster by around 10.30am on Thursday 20th November, I would simply love to see you there.
 
“We will be joined by a number of the real stars of the campaign themselves – the ex-Gurkhas who have served our country so loyally. Amongst them will be Honorary Lieutenant Tul Bahadur Pun VC who served with my father, and who has been such a huge inspiration to the campaign.
 
“At around 11am I’ve been asked to say a few words in Parliament Square, and I’ll be joined by other members of the Gurkha Justice Campaign and some special guests are joining us from Parliament. After that, a small delegation will go to Cenotaph and lay a wreath, before going on to Downing Street to hand in the petition.

“Finally, we’ll return to Parliament Square to thank ALL those who have come to show their support. That will take some time – on Thursday there will be people that have helped the campaign from across the country. I’m honoured they are coming – the commitment of those from across the country on this campaign has been incredible, and I’m so grateful for their support.
 
“So, I hope to see you on Thursday, and that you can make one final push to encourage EVERYONE you know to add their name to the petition at www.gurkhajustice.org.uk before 9pm on Wednesday.
 
“Onwards! One last big push for our Gurkha heroes, and I hope to see you on Thursday.
 
“With warmest good wishes,
 
“Joanna
www.gurkhajustice.org.uk”