Final premium
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by Juliet Morrison • A veteran recovery operator has been forced out of business by a three-fold increase in his insurance premiums.
Brian Watson, the owner of Banbury-based 3B's Rescue, will sell his fleet of 22 recovery vehicles at the end of January. He had been in the industry for 17 years. Watson says he was forced to stop trading when his broker sought to increase his premium from £6,750 to £26,000 at the end of 1994.
Originally, Watson's broker, Charlton Commercial Insurance Brokers of Welling, Kent said the best deal it could find was £28,000, although 3B's has only made three accident claims in the past five years.
Charlton managing director Clinton Ford says the increase was needed because 3B's insurance was underrated a year or two ago. He adds that his company could no longer go to General Accident, the company 3B's had originally been insured with, to get a better deal. Last summer GA set up an exclusive deal with London-based broker Bowring Marsh & McLennan to insure operators working principally on recoveries.
Ford says that 3B's was an isolated case: "This year most recovery operators are paying the same or less than they did in 1994."
Watson has been left to concentrate on his fuel station business, 38's Service Station, on the B4525 at Middleton Cheney. "It's such a shame because we loved the business," he says. "The worst part of it all was making 10 drivers redundant—we'd got to know them very well."
3B's Rescue's fleet will be auctioned on 26 January at 3B's Service Station, Thorpe Road, Middleton Cheney, Nr Banbury, Oxfordshire. The viewing day is 25 January.