§ 13. Lieut.-Colonel Cordeauxasked the Minister of Transport if he will move to amend Section 203 of the Road Traffic Act, 1960, to provide that no person or body of persons carrying on motor vehicle insurance in Great Britain can be considered an authorised insurer under the Act if he or they refuse cover to a person on the grounds that such person is not of British extraction.
§ Vice-Admiral Hughes HallettNo motorist should have any difficulty in obtaining the minimum statutory insurance cover provided his record as a driver is a reasonable one. If my hon. and gallant Friend will let me have details of any cases he has in mind I would be glad to try to help.
§ Lieut.-Colonel CordeauxMay I ask the Minister whether he is aware that a constituent of mine has recently been refused cover by the Malvern Insurance Company Ltd., solely for the reason that he is of foreign extraction? As this man fought alongside us during the whole of the last war in the Polish Air Force, and has been a naturalised British subject for more than 10 years, does not my hon. and gallant Friend think that this action of the Malvern Insurance Company Ltd. is most unfair and grossly insulting? If so, will he look into this matter again?
§ Vice-Admiral Hughes HallettI have seen the correspondence between my hon. and gallant Friend and my hon. 1268 Friend the Parliamentary Secretary. We would certainly strongly deprecate any discrimination solely on the ground that the applicant for insurance was not of British origin, but I think that we should wait to see what emerges from the inquiries which we will be glad to make if my hon. and gallant Friend can give us more details in addition to that which he has just given so that we may know to whom the inquiry should be addressed.
§ Mr. TileyWill my hon. and gallant Friend bear in mind that I have known the Northern Assurance Company Ltd. for many years and have never known it to indulge in practices of this kind? As motor insurance companies have lost many millions of £s over the last few years, it is only right to say that they are trying to make the good risks pay less, and the bad risks pay more, irrespective of race, colour or creed. That is the only commonsense way of dealing with motor insurance.
§ Vice-Admiral Hughes HallettI appreciate what my hon. Friend says, but I would rather go no further until we have had an opportunity of studying the actual details of this case.
§ Lieut.-Colonel CordeauxDoes my hon. Friend the Member for Bradford, West (Mr. Tiley) realise that I referred to the Malvern Insurance Company Ltd. and not to the Northern Assurance Company?