Ferry hauliers' insurance blow
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• Hauliers who lost lorries on the Herald of Free Enterprise could face crippling increases in motor insurance premiums next year: at least one insurance company has already warned that reimbursement from P&O European Ferries is not enough to cover its pay-out losses to operators.
Ian Rycroft of EC Transport in Poole, for example, has been hit with a massive 42% rise. His insurance brokers have warned him that unless criminal charges are brought against the ferry owner, insurance company losses could be passed on to hauliers. Even then, lawyers' costs and delays are likely to mean higher premiums for operators who lost lorries in the disaster.
Rycroft, who lost a £42,000 truck, was compensated quickly and fully by his insurer Commercial Union — but Last week he was sent an estimate for a 42% increase in his premium: "This is through no fault of our own. It's a hell of a rise, but unfortunately we must have insurance to carry on working," he says.
Gordon Waters, of insurance broker Willis Faber, says other factors have already caused motor insurance increases of around 20% this year. If a haulier has a separatelynegotiated fleet rate he takes a risk, because his premiums will be calculated according to payments made to him by insurers during past years.
Some hauliers could escape lightly if losses are absorbed by their insurance companies or are spread across the board to all clients. Several have still to receive their 1988 insurance estimates.