The Information Commission is trying to bring an end to the modern plague of unwanted messages
ICO wants victims to contact them so they can fine those responsible for the stream of calls
The end of unwanted calls and texts from marketing firms could be in sight after two men responsible for millions of spam texts to mobile phone users were told they face a £250,000 fine. The case, the first of its kind, is part of a wider crackdown by watchdogs on marketing texts and recorded message calls sent at random and without permission. Tens of thousands of people have complained about being subjected to a constant stream of nuisance texts, often from claims firms promising to pursue personal injury claims or payment protection insurance refunds.
Faced with claims that might end up exceeding £5 million from injuries inflicted by farm animals, the UK’s leading rural insurer yesterday issued a checklist for all those working with livestock.
Richard Percy, chairman of the NFU Mutual, said that many of the attacks on humans by farm animals came unexpectedly. “In my experience, it is always the bull that has shown no aggression in the past that catches you out, everyone stays clear of the grumpy one. So, beware the quiet bull.”
Percy also stressed that it was vital to remember that cattle, particularly bulls, were unpredictable and that the risk of an accident increased when handling livestock took place in confined spaces such as yards, cattle races and when loading cattle on to vehicles.
Another regular cause of cattle attacking humans occurred he said with cows with newly-born calves acting aggressively even if they had never had a history of bad behaviour.
A sharp rise in the number of people
making personal injury claims following a road accident has been revealed by
insurance analysts.
A report from the Actuarial Profession reveals that despite an 11% fall in
the number of road accidents in 2011, personal injury claims rose by 18%.
It says this may cost the insurance industry an extra £400m a year.
The government is planning new laws to limit the amount of money that firms
can make from 'no win no fee' cases.
The legislation, announced in March 2011 by Justice Secretary Ken Clarke,
would prevent lawyers claiming "success fees" from the losing side. Instead they
would receive a share of the damages.
The proposals follow a review carried out by Lord Justice Jackson in 2010 at
the request of the previous government.
The legislation also aims to prevent insurance companies and others from
passing on motorists' details after an accident.
Sgt. Brian Simpson slipped and fell while trying to stop a prison inmate’s assault on a fellow corrections officer last year, fracturing a bone in his knee when he landed hard.
A patient attacked Oregon State Hospital therapist Brant Johnson, raking him with a sharp thumbnail and leaving a deep scratch down his face and chest that became badly infected.
A jack slipped and a trailer fell on Department of Transportation responder Leland Erickson in 2003, breaking his sternum as he helped change a tire along a busy highway.
It’s easy for the public to think of state workers as pencil-pushing bureaucrats, but thousands are injured every year while performing high-risk jobs full of physical labor or potential confrontation.
Compensation totaling some €210 million was awarded last year in respect of 9,833 personal injury claimants.
In its review of 2011, Injuriesboard.ie said the highest award granted was €829,444 – the largest payout in its history and more than double the biggest sum received by a claimant in 2010 (€387,286).
The number of awards granted increased by 17 per cent (1,453) and the sum paid out increased by 12 per cent, or €22.8 million, to €209.8 million. The average sum awarded to claimants fell last year by 3.8 per cent to €21,339.
Chief executive Patricia Byron said the drop reflected the reduced number of work-related claims being processed and the fact that lower losses of earnings were being incurred due to reduced salaries across the economy.
More than three quarters of awards (76.5 per cent) were for injuries sustained in road traffic incidents with public (15.1 per cent) and workplace injuries (8.4 per cent) accounting for the remainder.
The average motoring claim amounted to €20,438 with workplace and public liability claims amounting to €27,102 and €22,686 respectively.
Horrified by the rise in your latest car insurance premium? You won’t be the only one.
The average quote for comprehensive annual cover has hit a record £971 – more than double the £446 it was in 2005 – an AA survey of 2,550 motorists will show next week.
Already facing sky-high petrol and diesel prices and the soaring cost of living, drivers must wonder how insurance firms can justify the hike.
A Mirror investigation has revealed drivers are paying the price for greed, fraud and dodgy practices in Britain’s £9.4billion motor insurance market – and a whole variety of reasons why premiums are rocketing:
THE biggest reason for the leap in motor insurance bills is a wave of legal claims for “whiplash” – neck pain from being hit from behind.
A report published last week by the House of Commons transport select committee found whiplash claims had jumped by a third since 2008 to 570,000 a year – despite the number accidents falling. Insurers claim this has added £90 to the average policy.
An estimated £2billion a year is paid out in compensation for such claims, but a survey of GPs recently warned that about a quarter of them are “fake or over-diagnosed”.
Insurers often settle out of court because they are hard to disprove.
Simon Douglas, director of AA Insurance, said: “A culture has developed that if another vehicle hits your car, you should make an injury claim. That’s regardless of how serious the injury is, or even if no injury has actually been suffered.”
Hybrid cars have been found to offer a significant safety advantage conventional rivals because of their additional weight helps reduce the severity of crashes, according to a new study from the Highways Loss Data Institute (HLDI).
The US non-profit organisation dedicated to reducing deaths, injuries, found that the odds of being injured in a crash are 25 per cent lower for people in a hybrid car than for people travelling in a non-hybrid models.
"Weight is a big factor," explains Matt Moore, HLDI vice president and an author of the report. "Hybrids on average are 10 per cent heavier than their standard counterparts. This extra mass gives them an advantage in crashes that their conventional twins don’t have."
However the Institute acknowledges that other factors may also be contributing to the safety of hybrid models, such as how, when and by whom hybrids are driven. To maximise the fuel efficiency benefits of a hybrid car, hybrid drivers often adopt a greener driving style-such as looking further ahead to avoid harsh braking-which is known to be a safer style too.
According to the Institute the new findings are good news for green-minded drivers who don’t want to trade safety for fuel economy. Not so long ago, car buyers had to choose between the two because fuel-efficient cars tended to be smaller and lighter. Now, consumers have more options than ever when it comes to picking an environmentally friendly — and crashworthy — vehicle.
"Saving at the pump no longer means you have to skimp on crash protection," Moore says.
In the study, HLDI estimated the odds that a crash would result in injuries if people were riding in a hybrid versus the conventional version of the same vehicle. The analysis included more than 25 hybrid-conventional vehicle pairs, all 2003-2011 models, with at least 1 collision claim and at least 1 related injury claim filed under personal injury protection or medical payment coverage in 2002-10.
Ernst & Young has predicted a significant improvement in the motor insurance industry’s 2011 results following analysis of the UK market’s Q3 statements.
According to the accountants, the market suffered losses of more than £5bn across 2009 and 2010, but premium rate increases and a stemming of inflation on non-injury claims could lead to the results improving this year by 20%.
Ernst & Young highlighted that in 2010 a market ratio of nearly 121% was the worst set of results for the industry since 1988.
It added that the price increases of that year and early 2011 were the key driver in the expected 20% improvement along with greater control of claim costs.
Catherine Barton, partner and actuary in the financial services division at Ernst & Young, commented: "Insurers were caught in a perfect storm in 2009 and 2010 - referral fees led to more costs creeping into the system, individuals' awareness of the ability to claim - legitimately or otherwise - led to smaller injury claims spiralling upwards, while at the same time price competition continued unabated.
"The losses were unsustainable - by 2009 the market had either run out of reserves to prop up performance or accepted that there were fundamental problems within the market that needed to be addressed. Insurers have now responded with price rises and more focus on claims cost control, which we believe will see the tide being turned." Bodily injury costs
However the company also noted that whereas a decade ago bodily injury costs were around a third of total claims cost, they are now rapidly approaching two thirds and that the uncertainty this causes for insurers in anticipating their underlying performance is posing increasing challenges to their business model.
"As injury claims stay open for longer, exposed to the ever-present threats of legislative and economic changes, the ability for insurers to understand their true performance and to price appropriately for it becomes ever more difficult," said Ms Barton.
"We suspect that bodily injury inflation will continue to be a problem, but insurers now appear to be more focused on the risks; they have turned to claims transformation programs to help detect fraud and manage claims, they have taken corrective rating action and also turned their attention to using extra external data to improve their current rating and underwriting methods. As their new programmes bed-in, we expect to see much improved performance in 2011 and 2012."
However Ms Barton warned that increased competition from new entrants and current insurers looking to grow their books of business meant there was no guarantee the improvement in the cycle would be sustained.
They look lovely all lit up and decorated, but Christmas Trees are the root cause of a number of accidents during the festive season. According to the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents, 2007 saw around 1,000 people injured in incidents involving Christmas Trees, including pine-related eye injuries as people reached for presents. Last year, one man even received £35,000 in personal injury compensation from the Czech Supreme Court after he was crushed by a 101ft Christmas Tree in the nation’s capital of Prague.
But it’s not just people suffering at the hands/branches of those pesky firs. Numerous accident claims are made to insurance companies for furniture that has been damaged by a fallen or irresponsibly handled tree.
