Fatal accident cover
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i by Miles Brignall
beet operators can now insure iemselves against the patenally enormous legal bills that an arise if one of their vehicles ; involved in a fatal accident.
Road Haulage Association isurance Services has iunched a policy that will pay le first £100,000 of legal bills icurred by a company which is rced to defend itself as the esult of an accident.
This follows several high irofile cases in which compaies and directors have been .harged with manslaughter folming fatal accidents. Until low such policies have only :overed offences defined by he Road Traffic Act. In 1999 two directors of Heathrow-based air-freight company Roy Bowles Transport stood trial for corporate manslaughter at the Old Bailey after one of the firm's trucks caused a fatal accident on the M25 in 1997. After receiving suspended jail sentences they lost an appeal and faced a legal bill believed to be about £250,000.
According to transport lawyer Stephen Kirkbright, who advised the RHA on the policy, applicants for cover will have to show that they run safe businesses. "Any haulier signing up to the policy will have to undergo an audit of the operation," he Says. "An inspector will examine their maintenance systems, dri
ver training and advice, tachograph analysis, health and safety training etc. Only those companies operating properly will be taken on."
And to make a claim, hauliers will have to show they had not let standards slip following the audit. "A company which makes an error which results in an accident should be able to claim; another that rips up the manual after the auditor has left will not," Kirkbright warns. "The final decision will rest with the insurers."
• Hauliers will pay £1,600 a year for fleets of up to 20 vehicles and £2,000 for 21-50 vehicles. The policy is open to all but RHA members will get a discount.