§ Mr. Colvinasked the Secretary of State for Trade if he will consider introducing a more equitable system of compensating the bereaved and recognising the overriding claims of the families of the dead than that provided for under the Warsaw convention.
§ Mr. EyreThe system of compensation introduced by the Warsaw convention of 1929 and the Hague protocol of 1955 is generally accepted to have several advantages from the point of view of airlines passengers. These include the presumption of liability by airlines up to fixed limits. The Government do not consider that these benefits, which are widely followed and recognised internationally, should lightly be abandoned.
The Government recognise that the actual levels of compensation set by the Warsaw-Hague rules as distinct 60W from the rules themselves are inadequate but these have not applied to United Kingdom airlines for many years. By means of the special contract provisions permitted by the convention, United Kingdom airlines have from 1 April 1981 been required to increase the maximum limit of liability for injury to passengers to 100,000 special drawing rights—about £57,000. This is one of the highest limits enforced anywhere in the world.