TGWU to offer licence compensation
Page 6
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
III Up to 22,UUO Transport and General Workers Union members could soon be entitled to £7,000 compensation if they lose their occupational driving licences due to an accident or medical disqualification—and all it will cost them is 30p a week.
The union is in final negotiations with insurance companies over an extension to its current
20p-a-week distress scheme that will give drivers up to a £7,000 lump sum if medical problems force them to stop driving. It expects to implement the scheme across the country in June. "This is very important to us," says T&G national officer HGV transport Ron Webb. "We're underwriting it."
The T&G is calling the total 50p-a-week scheme the Driver Disability Benefit Package; it believes it will benefit drivers who fail the tough new European Union eyesight standards.
Exact details of what it will cover are still being finalised, but the scheme will exclude over-65s, and ill-health caused by drink, drugs, HIV, pregnancy or self-inflicted injury.