Hauliers' attack on accident pay plan
Page 21
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
A GOVERNMENT plan to recoup the cost of treating accident victims — which could add £30m a year to the cost of road haulage — is being circulated among "interested organisations" by Social Services Secretary Mr David Ennals. The plan — revealed in CM in July — could add an extra seven per cent to the cost of insuring a commercial vehicle.
In a statement, Mr Ennals says that it is suggested that an annual charge for each vehicle set at a level sufficient to recover the costs of accident treatment should be paid at the same time as a vehicle is insured.
Mr Ennals says that at present the NHS recoups only £1.5 back of the cost of treating accident victims. "Motor policies have provided for these charges since the 1930s," he said.
The scheme proposes that the social services secretary should notify insurers of the amount needed to meet the NHS costs for each vehicle and it is proposed that there should be a flat rate for each vehicle.
As it has been proposed the scheme will mean that the insurance companies will be acting as tax collectors for the Government.
Mr Ennals says he has had discussions with the interested parties in July and August about the scheme and now he is inviting the motoring organisations to nominate representatives to join his officials in a working party to consider ways of paying for the health service.
Reaction from the road Haulage Association was one of horror. "Any suggestion of this kind is so ludicrous that I can hardly believe that it is being considered," said their spokesman, "The whole thing discriminates against the road users — who have already paid their health contributions once."
He said that it has been proved that the lorry is safer than the car anyway and adding to haulage costs would only push prices up.
The Freight Transport Association told CM that as far as they were concerned this was still the initial stages of the scheme. "But we are very concerned," said a spokesman. "We will be going with the motoring organisations to study the scheme in some depth."
He went on: "In the present economic situation the whole question of doing anything which increases costs must be very much in doubt."