MP Calls for New Road Accident Laws
A Labour MP will today call for legislation to ensure that people involved in road traffic accidents are eligible for compensation even when liability can not be established.Brian Iddon will present his Road Traffic (Accident Compensation) Bill on Wednesday, which makes provisions for no-fault compensation for personal injury in road accidents.
He decided to put forward the bill after one of his Bolton South East constituents was hit by a car driven by a man suffering from a heart attack.
The driver died shortly after the accident and Iddon told ePolitix.com that neither his constituent's insurance company, nor that of the driver, would pay out.
This "illustrates a small but unfair piece of lack of justice", the MP said.
He went on: "Here we have a gentleman who is crippled for life, who had to give up a high earning job as a research chemist, and has not got a penny's worth of compensation. Through no fault of his own this car hit him."
Having discussed the case with three different ministers, different government departments, both insurance companies and the Association of British Insurers, Iddon said he had done all he could for his constituent.
"So I think the law needs changing," he said. "Obviously with ten minute rule bills you have a hell of a job getting anywhere so what we are trying to do is flag this up hoping that either the insurance industry will change their regulations to pay out in these cases or the government will do something about it.
"I'm not going to stop this campaign, this is just a way of flagging it up and then I think we might pursue it in future with an adjournment debate where a minister is forced to come and give the government opinion.
"But we shall keep highlighting this until maybe somebody takes it up after I've retired and wins the battle."
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