£50 Brexit bonus as insurance law is cut
EU rules which would have required motor insurance for various vehicles including lawnmowers, golf buggies and mobility scooters are to be ditched.
The move is set to spare British drivers from an estimated £50-a-year increase in motor insurance.
Had the rules, dubbed “Vnuk” after a test case in Europe which instigated them, come into effect, Britain’s insurance industry would have been liable for nearly £2billion in extra costs, which the Government expected would be passed on to customers. It was also feared they could have decimated motorsports in the UK.
Back in 2017, then-foreign Secretary Boris Johnson warned that the European Court of Justice ruling could require people to purchase insurance for a “vast menagerie of vehicles”, saying: “This kiddie quad bike insurance law is a perfect example of both the over-regulation that has sapped the competitiveness of the EU and burdened it with low growth and high unemployment, and the judicial activism of the ECJ.”
He added: “What has it got to do with the so-called single market, whether I tootle around my garden on an undersized quad bike?”
The Vnuk judgement is named after Damijan Vnuk, a Slovenian man who was knocked off a ladder by a reversing tractor on a private farm in 2007.
In 2014, the European Court of Justice directed vehicles on private land must have motor insurance. Wranglings over the ruling had already been the subject of High Court litigation in the UK, and it was not certain Brexit would stop it.
But Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said: “We have always disagreed with this overthe-top law that would only do one thing – hit the pockets of hardworking people up and down the country with an unnecessary hike in their car insurance.
“I am delighted to announce that we no longer need to implement it. Scrapping this rule would save the country billions of pounds and is part of a new and prosperous future for the UK outside the EU – a future in which we set our own rules and regulations.”
The Government argues Vnuk is unnecessary because insurance packages are already available to cover risks on private land. The Department for Transport described the decision to formally remove the impact of thevnuk ruling from British law as a “clear win for motorists in Britain” and claimed it will protect motorsports.
It said: “The EU’S rules would have meant any motorsports collision involving vehicles, from go-karting to F1, would have been treated as regular road traffic incident requiring insurance.
“This could have decimated the industry due to the additional insurance costs of roughly £458million every single year.
“Scrapping the rules will save the industry from potential collapse and secure hundreds of thousands of jobs in the sector in the process.”
PRINCE Charles looked strained as he went to see his father in hospital yesterday, raising concerns for the Duke of Edinburgh.
Prince Philip, who turns 100 in June, was admitted to London’s King Edward Vll Hospital on Tuesday.
He was due to be discharged after a few days but this was extended on the advice of doctors.
Prince Charles made the visit from Highgrove, Gloucestershire, and left after half an hour.
Members of the Royal Family often stay away while relatives are in hospital for fear of disrupting medical staff in their duties. Under the independent hospital’s Covid-19 policy, “no visitor or escort, except in exceptional circumstances, is permitted to attend the hospital”.
Prince Charles appeared tired behind his mask as he left and got into a grey Tesla just before 4pm.
It followed a tough week dealing with the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s decision to not return to royal duties.
Buckingham Palace declined to comment on Philip’s health.
But a source close to the family insisted there had been no material change since Friday. The source said he remained in hospital “in good spirits” and that doctors were acting “out of an abundance of caution”.
Prince Philip was taken to hospital by car last week and walked in unaided.
The Palace has confirmed that his illness is not Covid-related and his hospital stay is “purely precautionary”.
It is thought Charles had not seen his father since before Christmas because of coronavirus restrictions.
A spokesman for the hospital, located in Marylebone in the centre of the capital, refused to comment, citing patient confidentiality.
LONGER lockdowns will cost lives because of the economic destruction they cause to young people and tax coffers, the co-founder of fast-food chain Leon has warned.
Restaurateur John Vincent said businesses were “at the heart of a functioning and healthy society” but his could fold if the latest lockdown is extended for too long.
Leon was losing around £200,000 a week and he told the Today programme: “That’s money that isn’t going into the economy, it’s not going into the wallets of the people