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.