Waste haulier hit by insurance collapse
Page 7
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
• A West Midlands waste management firm claims that it was almost forced out of business by the collapse of Independent Insurance.
West Bromwich-based Arrow Environmental Services bought employer's liability cover from Independent and faced a desperate search for replacement insurance to keep operating.
Managing director James Devereaux says it was touch and go if the firm would have to shut down: "Because we are in waste management it was particularly traumatic for us to obtain last-minute cover to keep our business legal.
'We obtained cover at the 11th hour, minutes before we were due to shut down our business indefinitely, at an additional cost of £5,000 per annum.'
Devereaux says other insurance firms attempted to exploit the situation that many firms found themselves in by producing sky-high quotations.
This view is shared by a Midlands insurance broker with long-standing experience of the industry. He declines to be identified for commercial reasons, but says: "I would say that the insurance market has not covered itself with glory in the way it has conducted itself. Insurers seem to have seen this situation as the green light to charge what they like."
He warns that prices across the liability insurance market Will rise over the coming months as insurers respond to what they claim was underpricing by Independent.