Taxi driver attack, insurance consequences

On Saturday 5 September 2009 at 23:20 BST, a Blackburn taxi driver was attacked by a gang and had his takings stolen.

After pulling into the car park of a community centre on Green Lane to pick up a fare, a gang of three men appeared with scaffolding poles, smashed his front and back windscreens, dragged him out of his taxi and stole his money bag, according to Lancashire Police.

Our insurance expert says:

The driver escaped relatively unhurt but his mental state has not been made public. If he was too traumatised to return to work immediately, trauma is an uninsured loss so to get help with claiming some compensation he would have needed to have chosen uninsured loss cover. That would cover things like out of pocket expenses, the excess (typically £500), personal injury compensation, the cost of car hire and other transport, damage to clothes, and so on and he would most likely have to be helped to claim from the Criminal Injuries Compensation Board.

The taxi would have to be repaired if it wasn't written-off. First, it would need to be taken to a garage. To facilitate that, roadside assistance cover would be required. Of course standard taxi insurance would cover the cost of repairs less the excess.

If the driver was able to return to work before his taxi was repaired, a replacement taxi would be required. Many policies don't provide that as standard (nor plating), so that's worth checking when asking any potential taxi insurer.

If this incident meant the driver felt unable to return to work as a taxi driver and it forced a change of career, or if he felt too traumatised to work for a few days, no compensation would be likely to be paid for that.

If he had been injured in a clear, physical way (for instance, the loss of a limb) a claim could certainly be made if he had taken out personal accident, sickness and injury insurance.

The purpose of insurance is to place you back, after the loss, into your original financial position before the loss. It covers specific, measurable and agreed financial risks. In this case, the driver suffered a traumatic attack. Insurance would pay for the repair to his taxi and some insurers will provide cover for loss of cash. Policy extensions can cover a replacement plated cab but check these are available.

Unfortunately basic uninsured loss cover requires that the identity of the responsible party is known and that they have assets, so are not “men of straw”. In this case the culprits have not been caught. In the event they were caught, a civil case would only be financially worth undertaking if they had assets to claim against.

Metcalfe Insurance Services is an independent insurance broker authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority offering business and individual insurance services.

The insurance implications of murder

In the evening of the 22 July 2009 taxi driver Mohammed Arshad, 36, was found at the side of Wast Hill Lane, in Hopwood near Birmingham with stab wounds to his head and other injuries. He was taken to hospital and died of his injuries the next day, leaving three sons. His blue Ford Galaxy was found a mile away.

West Mercia Police arrested a 28 year old man from Kings Norton on the 15 November on suspicion of murder.

Mr Arshad's funeral was held on the Friday, and a convoy of 200 taxi drivers paid their respects that evening.

Initial investigations centered around his last passenger who called himself Peter. Police released CCTV footage and an E-fit image. Mr Arshad was a self employed taxi driver working for A Cars in Pershore Road. A £10,000 reward was offered by West Mercia Police for information that leads to the arrest and conviction of the person who killed Mr Arshad.

Insurance consequences

There is nothing to say the vehicle was damaged, although it will be forensically examined and presumably in due course returned to the next of kin. A standard taxi insurance policy would pay out nothing in this case.

It's not known whether Mr Arshad had purchased insurance and if he is Muslim he is more likely to have involved himself in Takaful products that comply with Islamic law. Non-Islamic insurance policies such as life assurance or personal accident insurance are affordable and could provide support for his widow and their family under these circumstances.

Some form of insurance cover is particularly important where there is a sole breadwinner for a family with small children and there are a variety of different policies that can be effected in isolation or in conjunction with each other depending on each person's circumstances and budget, everyone's situation is different.

Metcalfe Insurance Services is an independent insurance broker authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority offering business and individual insurance services.

Taxi insurance claim after wheelie bin attack

A taxi driver and his three passengers narrowly escaped injury after yobs on a bridge threw a wheelie bin into his path.

The bin bounced on the 50mph road in front of the minibus and then "hit the bumper and cracked the grill. It then went over the bonnet, left a dent on the roof and landed on the road behind the taxi" according to a police spokeswoman. She continued "This could easily have had disastrous consequences had the driver not been able to take avoiding action".

The minibus was travelling along Western Avenue, Glenrothes, Fife early on Saturday morning 22nd August 2009 and the bin was thrown from the Collydean pedestrian bridge.

Our insurance expert says:

The insurance consequences of an incident like this are manyfold. Assuming the driver had basic insurance and that he was still able to drive, he would want a replacement taxi quickly so that he could continue work straight away. Many policies don't include it, so it's worth asking if that would be provided by any prospective taxi insurer. Plating is an issue too so can't be assumed. If it is provided it would usually be for a no-fault accident. In this case, while it is not the fault of the driver, like a fault accident there is no-one to claim off. To get a replacement taxi for a fault accident would normally require an additional premium. Remember that even a small bodywork dent can mean a week off work waiting for the various layers of car paint to dry.

Of course any claims made by his passengers inside the taxi will be covered by basic taxi insurance but if, for instance, the driver helped to transfer the passengers' luggage to a friend's taxi on the night and he dropped a suitcase on a passenger's toe, that would require public liability cover. It might be included in the policy, or may be optional. Local authorities do require it when doing work for the council.

Having dispatched his passengers, roadside assistance might have been a good idea, particularly if the car is no longer roadworthy.

Since there is no-one to claim from in this instance, a loss of earnings payment would be unlikely to be paid. If the driver were injured and unable to drive, personal accident cover at a small additional premium would probably provide some income. The problem is, this is a case of malicious damage similar to, for instance, being attacked in the street. In a car accident each party is insured. Here, there's no-one to claim the costs from, especially since the culprits haven't yet been caught.

Uninsured loss cover would help this driver recover things like out of pocket expenses, the excess (typically £500), personal injury compensation, the cost of car hire and other transport, damage to clothes, and so on. The small additional amount is also worth considering as paying out while earning less is a double hit.

Often a full package of cover is available that includes most or all of these elements but it's worth checking what you're getting to make sure you're comparing offers not just on price. Other aspects to check might include cover for personal effects, money (theft) and luggage damage.

Metcalfe Insurance Services is an independent insurance broker authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority offering business and individual insurance services.