Britain’s police forces could face a bill for tens of millions of pounds from insurance companies because property was damaged in the rioting while the “police effectively failed to keep law and order”.
Grahame Trudgill, the head of corporate affairs for the British Insurance Brokers’ Association (Biba), said insurance companies had the right to reclaim the money under the Riot Damages Act of 1886.
He said members would “respond” to claims from householders and small businesses, and would then attempt to reclaim the money from the police. Biba’s brokers handle around half of the value of all home contents, motor, travel, commercial and industrial insurance policies in the UK.
The Association of British Insurers (ABI), the trade body for insurance companies, said damages from the three nights of civil unrest would cost “at least tens of millions of pounds”. Most insurers have said they will honour claims for damage caused by the rioting.
Nick Starling, the director of general insurance and health at the ABI, said home insurance policies “should cover people for fire, looting or damage caused”. He added: “Many policies will also cover people for accommodation costs if they can’t stay in their home.”
Most commercial insurance policies will cover businesses for damage to their premises, including the interruption to their business as a result, while some policies will also cover businesses that are not damaged but whose trade is affected by the aftermath.
Categories: UK
Yahoo news reports today:
Violence in London first broke out late Saturday in the low-income, multiethnic district of Tottenham in the northern part of the city, where outraged protesters demonstrated against the fatal police shooting of Mark Duggan, a 29-year-old father of four who was gunned down in disputed circumstances Thursday.
A brief inquest hearing into Duggan’s death takes place Tuesday, though it will likely be several months before a full hearing.
Duggan’s death stirred old animosities and racial tensions similar to those that prompted massive riots in the 1980s, despite efforts by London police to build better relations with the city’s ethnic communities.
But, as the unrest spread, some pointed to rising social tensions in Britain as the government slashes 80 billion pounds ($130 billion) from public spending by 2015 to reduce the huge deficit, swollen after the country spent billions bailing out its foundering banks.
Sony Corp. said a major blaze had broken out at its distribution center near Enfield, north London, damaging DVDs and other products. So many fires were being fought in the capital that Thames Water warned that some customers could face water pressure drops. In the Clapham Junction area of south London, a mob stole masks from a party store to disguise their identities and then set the building on fire.
http://news.yahoo.com/uk-pm-recalls-parliament-london-riot-crisis-122431993.html
To blame the police is a bit ‘cheap’. I am sure they tried their best.