HC Deb 20 April 1999 vol 329 cc818-22

Motion made, and Question proposed, That this House do now adjourn. — [Mr. Pope.]

11.38 pm
Jackie Ballard (Taunton)

Despite the lateness of the hour, I am pleased to have secured this debate on an issue that could concern any of us at any time. Each year, about 3,500 people are killed on our roads and many thousands more are injured. Often, they are totally innocent parties—the victims of either accident or recklessness.

People who have been bereaved or are themselves injured have to deal with trauma and grief as well as the complicated set of procedures that follow a road crash, including insurance claims and possible criminal or civil prosecutions. Research by the European Federation of Road Traffic Victims found that a large proportion of people bereaved on the roads suffer long-term health problems and depression. The federation said that practical and legal support, as well as emotional support for bereaved families, was needed urgently.

Currently, the Home Office and Victim Support provide valuable help and support for people bereaved through homicide and for victims of crime, but there is no such support package for victims of road accidents. I have been told by the chairman of the all-party group that many victims of road incidents find the term "accident" difficult to cope with because, so often, such incidents are not accidents, but are caused by dangerous or reckless driving or by thoughtlessness.

Last year, many Members signed early-day motion 1235, calling for automatic support and advice for people bereaved through road accidents.

The organisation BRAKE, which campaigns for safer road transport, is also campaigning for traumatised victims to receive proper support. It believes that the way in which an individual has been traumatised, whether through accident, recklessness or crime, should not be the basis for discrimination with regard to the provision of care, advice or support.

I shall give the House some details about constituents of mine who first came to see me more than a year ago, because it is their experiences that have led me to seek the debate. The 18-year-old son of the family was driving his father's car, with his mother in the front passenger seat. They were stationary at a junction waiting to join a major road when an approaching vehicle went out of control and hit their car, causing it to spin round several times before coming to rest. They had done nothing to contribute to the incident.

The 18-year-old driver had what appeared at the time to be minor injuries, but his mother was more severely injured and was taken to hospital by ambulance. The son found that his injuries affected him physically for a long time, and his confidence in driving was badly damaged. He was about to start a college course, and needed to rely on his father to move him to London and transport him to other places. The family live in a rural area with little public transport, where car ownership is not a luxury but a necessity.

Since the accident, Mrs. Larcombe, the mother of the driver, and her family have been through much emotional trauma and have had many practical difficulties to contend with, alongside their health problems. Following the accident, for example, they lost personal belongings such as clothing that was bloodstained or cut off by the hospital, spectacles and items that were in the car. No one told them to cancel the car tax on what was now an unusable car. That may seem like a small issue, but, when people are counting the pennies, a month's car tax that one could have reclaimed is important.

The family have now had four years of dealing with insurance companies and solicitors. That, too, was a new experience for them. They say that the insurance companies that they have dealt with have made them feel like victims over and over again as they are sent for medical examinations, sometimes to see a specialist 70 miles away from home. Mrs. Larcombe has visited the local hospital for treatment more than 150 times, and she is still awaiting an operation.

The Larcombes contacted the local Victim Support organisation, thinking that that was the place to go for help, but were told, correctly, that its code of practice and its constitution limit its work to advice and support for victims of crime.

The family had taken out legal protection with their motor insurance, but felt that they had little say in the progress of their claim. Mrs. Larcombe says:

When the insurance company says you have to attend a medical examination you feel you have to jump". When she was once asked to attend a medical examination many miles away, she was sick several times in the car while on her way to be examined by the specialist at the behest of the insurance company. Her son was asked to attend an appointment during his college exams.

Those people have told me that they feel that information is needed, either on admission to hospital, if people are in a fit state to receive it, or at least when people are leaving hospital, to set them on the right course, with a checklist of what to do and whom to inform. I repeat that, for many people, the experience of being involved in a road incident for the first time brings them into contact with a range of other issues that they have not had to encounter before. There they are, through no fault of their own, having to deal with professionals and organisations that they have not had to deal with before.

Mr. Andrew Miller (Ellesmere Port and Neston)

The hon. Lady is raising some important points, and at the beginning of her speech she mentioned the European Federation of Road Traffic Victims. Is she aware that the principal author of the report to which she referred is a Swiss gentleman, who has advised Members of Parliament at an open meeting that in Switzerland a counselling process has been created, parallel to the equivalent of our victim support system?

Jackie Ballard

I thank the hon. Gentleman for that intervention. No, I did not know that. I understand that there is also an organisation in this country, of which I was unaware, called RoadPeace. Certainly my constituents were not made aware of it when they were in need of advice and support.

I bring this case to the House's attention because Mr. and Mrs. Larcombe were unfortunate enough, two years after the initial incident, to have a second car written off. It was parked in a London street, so thankfully this time they were not in the car. In the past four years, they have learned more than they ever wanted to know about the need for help and support for victims of such road accidents. On the phone to me this weekend, when I told her about securing this debate, Mrs. Larcombe said that the whole experience had made her feel as though she was being screwed into the ground.

Insurance companies are happy to take our premiums, but are not so eager to deal with claims. We have all had constituents who have had problems trying to get insurance companies to deal with their claims. Companies are not keen to deal with claims, even when it is obvious who the innocent victims are. I appreciate that in some road accidents or crashes it is not obvious who is at fault, but it is sometimes clear who is not at fault.

Thousands of people each year have experiences similar to those of my constituents. I have two suggestions to put to the Minister. He is from the Home Office, and one of my suggestions is for the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions, but I am sure that he can pass it on to his colleagues. Funding should be given to Victim Support to enable it to extend its remit to include victims of road traffic incidents.

My second suggestion is that the Government should, through the Motor Insurers Bureau, urge insurance companies to draw up a simple checklist which could be issued by the police or by hospitals or other professionals who came into contact with people immediately after a road traffic accident.

I hope that the Minister will be able to offer my constituents and the thousands of others in a similar situation some hope that in future the system will be improved, so that other people do not have to go through not just the physical problems, but the emotional trauma and the practical difficulties that follow from such incidents.

11.47 pm
The Minister of State, Home Office (Mr. Paul Boateng)

The House will be grateful to the hon. Member for Taunton (Jackie Ballard) for bringing this important subject to the fore. The Larcombe family have been well served by her interest in this matter. The House will wish to extend its sympathy to them. Their experience is by no means uncommon.

The debate gives me, on behalf of the Government and, I am sure, the whole House, an opportunity to pay tribute to the police and the road safety organisations that work tirelessly to reduce the terrible toll of death and injury on our roads. I also pay tribute to those who provide care and support for victims and the bereaved during the difficult times that are all too often the consequence of road traffic incidents such as we are discussing.

My hon. Friend the Member for Ellesmere Port and Neston (Mr. Miller) has, over the years, supported RoadPeace in its valuable work of campaigning on behalf of the victims of road traffic incidents. It is worth noting that its contribution has helped to put this issue on our national agenda. The hon. Lady and my hon. Friend referred to the European experience of road crashes. Our record on road safety is very good compared with other countries, but there is no room for complacency, and we can always learn from others, not least about support for victims. It is right that the House should continue to pay attention to this issue.

I had the pleasure—and it was a pleasure, even though it was also a challenging experience—of appearing recently before the Environment, Transport and Regional Affairs Committee to discuss road traffic and the Government's proposals for an integrated transport system. The Committee is rightly considering the roles of the Home Office and of the DETR together. That is our approach, because we recognise that we need to work across the departmental boundaries if we are to maximise the support that we can give to reducing accidents and fatalities on the road and to advancing road safety policy so as to achieve the most effective impact on road accidents, deaths and injuries.

My colleagues at DETR who are responsible for road safety policy launched in October a review of speed policy. It will advance our policies as outlined in the integrated transport policy White Paper, and will consider—in relation to safety, mobility, the economy and the environment—ways in which we can draw on informed opinion outside the House and expertise in the civil service. That review will be completed by autumn this year and will make specific proposals on speed policy.

Later in the year, we will also announce a new road safety strategy, designed to replace Campaign 2000. That too will be designed to target road casualties and to reduce them by 2010 in line with the comparable baseline figures from 1994 to 1998. That strategy will concentrate specifically on child safety, safety for vulnerable road users, speed, driver training, impairment and other issues. It will take forward a raft of proposals on enforcement issues. The police service will put its best efforts into supporting Government strategies designed to reduce road traffic casualties.

Mr. Miller

Will my hon. Friend consider encouraging Members of Parliament to participate with the police and the Institute of Advanced Motorists in improving driving skills? If we gave a lead, it might encourage progress on some of the safety issues that can stem from better driver training.

Mr. Boateng

Certainly, hon. Members who drive can help to set an example, although they should always do so with some humility, bearing in mind the pressures and strains under which they operate, which are not always conducive to road safety. It is possible—my hon. Friend is right to draw it to our attention—to encourage in our constituencies the acquisition of the skills that will assist in reducing road traffic incidents.

The Home Office recently published a report produced by Her Majesty's inspectorate of constabulary that takes a thematic look at the policing of road traffic and related areas. That has been helpful in the promotion of good practice and in spreading it across the country. Indeed, Lord Whitty, the DETR Minister in the Lords, launched that report with me as another example of joint working on this matter.

A number of important initiatives are occurring on road death bereavement. The Victim Support working party published a report, "Support for Families of Road Death Victims", in 1994. We provide a substantial annual grant to the national charity and its 365 local schemes and branches so that they may provide practical help and emotional support to more than 1 million crime victims each year. The charity has dealt increasingly of late with referrals after road deaths.

In March 1992, Victim Support's national council set up an independent working party to identify problems and ways to resolve them. The hon. Member for Taunton said that we had not always equipped Victim Support to help, and that issue is being addressed. A great deal of progress has been made, and we are working closely with the charity to take forward the recommendations in its report.

Jackie Ballard

The Minister said that Victim Support can help after road deaths. Is that after a prosecution has found that someone is to blame, or can it help immediately after a death without waiting for a prosecution?

Mr. Boateng

There is no reason to wait, and good practice suggests that schemes ought not do so. Victim Support regards this as an area in which it wishes to help, and it is being funded to do so. In response to pressure from Victim Support and its work with the charity, the Association of Chief Police Officers has endorsed a service delivery standard that covers road fatalities and support for bereaved families.

In the past, various police forces have published their own literature to support the bereaved. The Association of Chief Police Officers' traffic committee is in discussion with me and my officials about moving towards a standardised approach to provide specific support literature across the forces. That would deal with some of the distressing practical issues raised by the hon. Lady when an early word of advice or common sense could take an enormous burden off the minds and shoulders of those who live with the consequences of an incident.

The hon. Lady referred to the road safety research organisation BRAKE, an arm of which, the trauma advisory service, has produced five useful information booklets. The Government, through the Department of Health, are putting money into developing those booklets. The first two—"Coping with grief when someone you love has been killed on the road" and "Procedures following a death on the road in England and Wales"—are in general use by counselling organisations and are used widely by the police.

Road safety will continue to be of concern. We hope to continue to bear down on the number of road traffic fatalities and injuries. But there is a need for continued alertness and sensitivity. I am grateful to the hon. Lady for raising the issue. We shall continue to work, not least with the voluntary sector and those campaigning organisations without which this important matter would not have received the attention that it deserves. We owe a great debt of gratitude to them and to the many families who live with fatalities and other incidents that cause grief and concern. We owe it to them to get our policy and practice right.

Question put and agreed to.

Adjourned accordingly at one minute to Twelve midnight.