:00:28. > :00:34.On the Politics Show in the North: Why are we paying so much for car
:00:34. > :00:44.insurance? MPs call for a crackdown on ambulance chasing claim firms.
:00:44. > :00:44.
:00:44. > :32:08.Apology for the loss of subtitles for 1883 seconds
:32:08. > :32:12.And claims that many councils are Welcome to The Politics Show for
:32:12. > :32:16.Yorkshire and Lincolnshire. Coming A high price of car insurance in
:32:16. > :32:22.the north, while MPs are calling for a crackdown on ambulance
:32:22. > :32:27.chasing claim firms and tougher penalties for uninsured drivers.
:32:27. > :32:35.And true grit, we discovered just how already we are for a big freeze.
:32:35. > :32:39.And even more pot holes. Where has the money gone to fill them in?
:32:39. > :32:44.We pay insurance to protect us in the unfortunate event of cars
:32:44. > :32:50.ending up like this. At least most of us do. In a moment, we will her
:32:50. > :32:58.up -- here from the Lincolnshire MP who has his own personal reasons 14
:32:58. > :33:01.tougher penalties for uninsured drivers. The Commons debated this
:33:01. > :33:05.this week, and we have been finding out why motorists in one
:33:05. > :33:14.Yorkshire's City pay the highest premiums in the country put up this
:33:14. > :33:19.is the only ignition key Glen Warne uses this day, he used to have a
:33:19. > :33:21.car but the bike is nowhere near as useful to him but it has one major
:33:21. > :33:26.advantage. It does not need motor insurance to
:33:27. > :33:32.take it on the road. I started off a few years ago at �500, I got one
:33:32. > :33:38.point on my licence, never had an accident. I just got basically told
:33:38. > :33:43.that due to my criteria, the closest quote we could get was
:33:43. > :33:48.�2,400. Glenn's problem is where he lives. Shipley has a Bradford
:33:48. > :33:54.postcode, and as an experiment, he made an experiment from where he
:33:54. > :33:58.works in Leeds. The result, 80% cheaper. Glenn's car is now in a
:33:58. > :34:05.scrapyard just down the road from his home, as are an increasing
:34:05. > :34:09.number, priced off the road by a huge insurance quotes. So many
:34:09. > :34:12.vehicles were turning up in car graveyards like this that the
:34:12. > :34:20.insurance companies started doing some academic research. Bay potted
:34:20. > :34:24.which part of the countries were paying out far more in insurance
:34:24. > :34:29.claims than the rest of the country, and it was Bradford and Keith leap
:34:29. > :34:33.that showed the highest levels. They then plotted which areas had
:34:33. > :34:37.the highest numbers of specialist claims management companies. The
:34:37. > :34:41.two maps are virtually identical. The research by the independent
:34:41. > :34:45.Institute of Actuaries shows it is not the cost of damage to vehicles
:34:45. > :34:49.which is rising, but a huge increase in the number of claims
:34:49. > :34:53.for physical injuries to drivers and passengers. In the Bradford
:34:53. > :34:58.postcode, rates over the last two years for new business for motor
:34:58. > :35:01.insurance have doubled. If we look at the identity of claims
:35:01. > :35:05.management companies in the Bradford postcode, it is one of the
:35:05. > :35:08.highest in the UK, three times the national average. This does not
:35:08. > :35:15.prove categorically that claims management companies are causing an
:35:15. > :35:22.increase in injury claims, but it is a strong case that it might be
:35:22. > :35:26.that. It is more likely to be that than people mysteriously been more
:35:26. > :35:32.prone for bodily injury in a certain part of the country. This
:35:32. > :35:36.is one of dozens in West Yorkshire. They denied that any of them are
:35:36. > :35:40.response will for inflated claims. We are being blamed for something
:35:40. > :35:46.we do not contribute towards. In fact, we actually mitigates
:35:46. > :35:51.insurance losses and help the claim process to go quickly. Back in
:35:51. > :35:55.Shipley, Glen was angered by something else. A total stranger
:35:55. > :36:00.offered to help him afford to keep his car by its staging a bogus car
:36:00. > :36:04.crash for a cut of the resulting insurance claim. My son is now
:36:04. > :36:08.walking and catching the bus to school. Because I do not have a car.
:36:08. > :36:12.I used to drop him off and taken to school, the reason my son is out
:36:12. > :36:18.there in the cold morning and night and I am having to every -- write
:36:18. > :36:22.an electric bike is because people like that are helping to drive up
:36:22. > :36:27.prices for innocent, hard-working Bradford people. The problem for
:36:27. > :36:30.ordinary motorists is that trying to fight what is in effect an
:36:30. > :36:35.attempt to defraud them, albeit via their insurance companies, is it is
:36:35. > :36:39.very difficult for them to do anything about it. My colleague has
:36:39. > :36:46.been meeting an MP who was in that position and he has done something
:36:46. > :36:51.about it. It was here that one Lincolnshire
:36:51. > :36:54.MP entered the merry-go-round of the car claims industry. Karl
:36:54. > :37:00.McCartney was a victim of a staged accident at this Chester roundabout.
:37:00. > :37:04.Resulting in a 2000 -- a two-and-a- half-year legal battle. Enraged by
:37:04. > :37:11.his experience, he took the opportunity to speak out against
:37:11. > :37:14.the compensation culture in Tuesday's Commons debate. There is
:37:15. > :37:20.a widely held view that there is an need for far harsher penalties for
:37:20. > :37:25.uninsured drivers, and people who are aided and abetted by the claims
:37:25. > :37:30.industry and lie about the extent of injuries caused to them. The man
:37:30. > :37:36.who was in France break -- break for no reason. It was a small mop
:37:36. > :37:43.up the claim that carried -- came in was �16,500. It was seen to be
:37:43. > :37:50.fraudulent but the police have not chased it up., can't it blames the
:37:50. > :37:54.claims management company to encourage people to claim for
:37:54. > :37:59.injuries. The claim management trade association rejected the
:37:59. > :38:02.allegation that our premiums are more expensive because of their
:38:02. > :38:08.ambulance chasing. Four the average person on the street, they do not
:38:08. > :38:10.know where to go. The role of the claims management company and the
:38:10. > :38:15.claimant's solicitors, especially the claims management companies,
:38:15. > :38:20.are to provide a conduit into that system. If you take that away, tens
:38:20. > :38:23.of thousands of people will not get the access to justice that they are
:38:23. > :38:27.legally entitled to. Matter who is to blame, the government is setting
:38:27. > :38:32.up a new -- no matter who is to blame, the government is setting up
:38:32. > :38:35.a new fraud squad to tackle insurance. But without regulation,
:38:35. > :38:40.the bottom line seems to be that lower car insurance premiums for
:38:40. > :38:44.motorists are a long way off. Plenty to talk about with our
:38:44. > :38:50.guests, David Ward, Liberal Democrat MP for Bradford East, and
:38:50. > :38:54.Karl Turner, Labour MP for Hull East who, who is in a Hull studio.
:38:54. > :38:57.You are a Bradford MP, wide as Bradford have the highest car
:38:57. > :39:02.insurance in the company? There is not one single reason, and we
:39:02. > :39:07.featured on one particular aspect of this crazy system that is in
:39:07. > :39:11.operation. The downside of doing that is we take away really what is
:39:11. > :39:15.the main essential point we should be making, this is a crazy system,
:39:15. > :39:20.and all of the separate parts of this, personal injury lawyer,
:39:20. > :39:26.charging excessive fees, whether it is to do with on a no-win no-fee
:39:26. > :39:29.cases, whether it to do is to do with uninsured drivers or problems
:39:29. > :39:34.with the police and that their resources, all of these are
:39:34. > :39:40.component parts. All of them need to be dealt with. Let's have a look
:39:40. > :39:43.at a show called Crash for cash incident. This is an accident which
:39:44. > :39:47.has been staged deliberately to make money at other insurance
:39:47. > :39:51.company. Are these the sort of insolence that on the increase, not
:39:51. > :39:55.just in Bradford but everywhere? There are two sides to this. First,
:39:55. > :39:59.organised crime, mention has been made of the fraud unit which will
:39:59. > :40:05.be set up a 35 police officers dedicated to looking at organised
:40:05. > :40:11.crime. Them DEC -- then there is opportunistic claims. You have a
:40:11. > :40:17.bump in a car, you think nothing of it, but you go to the pub and
:40:17. > :40:23.someone says, but acclaim him. You could get two or �3,000. The
:40:23. > :40:29.insurance -- the insurers will pay. You think, I am paying too much for
:40:29. > :40:33.my insurance, why not? Karl Turner in Hull, you or a lawyer by trade.
:40:33. > :40:36.Some might say this is part of a wider problem that has grown in
:40:36. > :40:41.recent years, the compensation culture, people wanting something
:40:41. > :40:47.for nothing, what -- would you agree? I would agree to an extent.
:40:47. > :40:51.There is a mixture of things, it is the car crunchers, the claims
:40:51. > :40:56.management companies, who are effectively making fraudulent
:40:56. > :40:59.claims. But it is also referral fees, and the behaviour of
:40:59. > :41:03.insurance companies. People are feeling squeezed. The government
:41:03. > :41:08.have an opportunity in the legal aid and sentencing and punishment
:41:08. > :41:12.of offenders Bill, which has just gone to the Lords, to do something
:41:12. > :41:16.about this. Jack Straw's amendment would have dealt with referral fees
:41:17. > :41:20.properly. But the government failed to act. I say there is a reason
:41:20. > :41:25.behind that. The government are closely linked with the insurance
:41:25. > :41:29.industry. I am right to say that the Tory party received nearly �5
:41:29. > :41:34.million since David Cameron became the leader of the party. That needs
:41:34. > :41:38.to be looked at very quickly. number of insurance claims, the
:41:38. > :41:42.number of fraudulent insurance claims, went up hugely under the
:41:42. > :41:47.Labour years. Some would say you had a soft touch system when it
:41:47. > :41:51.came to the regulation of some of these companies. The reality is
:41:51. > :41:56.that accidents are actually going down, cars are built much safer now,
:41:56. > :41:59.but the price of insurance is going up. That needs to be dealt with. I
:41:59. > :42:02.say that is something the government could have done with the
:42:02. > :42:07.referral fee aspect, and dealing with insurance companies. They have
:42:07. > :42:12.not done that, deliberately for the reasons I have suggested. The
:42:12. > :42:16.Guardian and the Telegraph have been investigating a minister in
:42:16. > :42:20.the Ministry of Justice, it seems to me that the closely associated
:42:20. > :42:25.with the insurance industry. minister in question is not here to
:42:25. > :42:28.defend himself. This new system to police referral fees, to stop
:42:28. > :42:36.people making money out of reporting accidents, how can that
:42:36. > :42:39.be policed? I will not be tempted into a political argument here. A
:42:39. > :42:43.feature of the debate in the House of Commons this week was how all
:42:43. > :42:46.parties from all sides were coming together to recognise parliament
:42:46. > :42:50.needs to deal with this. The Transport Select Committee in the
:42:51. > :42:56.previous parliament bid a fantastic job in keeping this on the minds of
:42:56. > :43:00.ministers. That will continue. Referral fees will go as part of
:43:00. > :43:03.this legislation, without a doubt, but that is not the only thing we
:43:03. > :43:06.need to do. There is a concerted effort and co-operation from all
:43:06. > :43:11.the parties and we will slay this monster.
:43:11. > :43:15.This time last year, we were about to enter the worst cold snap for
:43:15. > :43:19.decades. Most councils across Yorkshire and Lincolnshire say they
:43:19. > :43:22.are better prepared this year, especially when it comes to
:43:22. > :43:26.gritting the roads. However there are claims that some areas will not
:43:26. > :43:30.have enough money to repair potholes if there is another big
:43:30. > :43:34.freeze. This was the scene across parts of
:43:34. > :43:38.East Yorkshire and Lincolnshire last November. Temperatures
:43:38. > :43:41.plummeted as the country experienced the worst winter in
:43:42. > :43:46.decades. But with warnings are more bad weather could be just around
:43:46. > :43:52.the corner, it is claimed councils are better prepared than ever.
:43:52. > :43:59.There is a real pressure on budgets generally, but when you think that
:43:59. > :44:03.last year, we used �1.2 million of salts, this year we already hold
:44:03. > :44:06.1.4 million tonnes of salt already. It is an increase in stocks. We are
:44:06. > :44:13.better prepared than we have ever been forced a since last winter,
:44:13. > :44:17.many council budgets are still on ice. It means this year, no
:44:17. > :44:22.councils are spending more on protecting roads over the winter,
:44:22. > :44:26.and Hull has cut its budget slightly. That means when the bad
:44:26. > :44:29.weather returns, it is main routes which are once again prioritised,
:44:29. > :44:34.and there will be even more pressure on smaller community to
:44:34. > :44:40.protect themselves. Lincolnshire ship its salt over from Egypt
:44:40. > :44:44.months ago, but despite the forward planning, not everyone is convinced.
:44:44. > :44:51.Last year, smaller rural villages were hit hard. This one was cut off
:44:51. > :44:55.by slow, and food was rationed in the local shops. After the roads
:44:55. > :44:59.were not gritted. I was getting to the wholesalers and getting all the
:44:59. > :45:05.necessary things like milk and bread, and as quick as I was buying
:45:05. > :45:12.it, it was selling out too fast. So I had to ration it took two point
:45:12. > :45:19.of milk and a loaf of bread per household. Realistically, we cannot
:45:19. > :45:22.possibly salt and treat all highways on the network. We managed
:45:22. > :45:26.to do one third of the network but that leaves some areas that do not
:45:26. > :45:32.get treated as a matter of routine. We are trying to help them this
:45:32. > :45:38.year as we did last year, by insuring that under severe
:45:38. > :45:42.conditions, we get to them as soon as we possibly can. Villagers in
:45:42. > :45:47.East Yorkshire are used to working together. Last year, they use a JCB
:45:47. > :45:53.to clear the roads. Before this becomes a permanent move, they say
:45:53. > :45:57.they need more council support. Having more of the raw materials,
:45:57. > :46:04.the grit or Wroxall, available even if it is for the local people,
:46:04. > :46:09.would have made the lot of sense. But it did not happen, we were
:46:09. > :46:14.forgotten about. 100 of town and parish councils received thousands
:46:14. > :46:21.of pounds of funding for self- hope. We had tremendous partnerships
:46:21. > :46:27.working across East Riding, 1000 square miles, we cannot treat
:46:27. > :46:35.everywhere in those tough conditions. The problems do not
:46:35. > :46:40.stop there. When the ice melts, potholes are left. It became so
:46:40. > :46:45.noisy here that this woman had to change bedrooms. This whole here,
:46:46. > :46:49.as the lorries came down, it cracked and eroded, a chap went
:46:49. > :46:53.into the hole and his tyre burst and he was lucky that he was not
:46:53. > :46:57.seriously hurt. How concerned are you about problems after more bad
:46:57. > :47:02.weather this year? I am concerned that if the temperature plummets
:47:02. > :47:07.again and we have another bad winter, it will open this hole and
:47:07. > :47:12.other holes will form a. estimate there are �10.5 billion
:47:12. > :47:16.needed to bring the Highways up to a proper standard. Local government
:47:16. > :47:20.on its own cannot afford that. We need national solutions to a
:47:20. > :47:26.national problem. Councils say they are ready for arctic conditions.
:47:26. > :47:30.The worst holes have been filled, and they have stocked up on salt.
:47:30. > :47:35.Until the snow falls again, we will not know how well the lessons of
:47:35. > :47:40.last year have been learnt. Let me go straight to Karl Turner,
:47:40. > :47:42.does it bother you that most local authorities in Yorkshire and
:47:42. > :47:47.Lincolnshire are not increasing their budgets this year for
:47:47. > :47:51.protecting the road? Of course it does. I ought to say that I have
:47:51. > :47:56.checked with my council today, they will be spending the same amount on
:47:56. > :48:00.gritting as last year. The Lib Dem administration had planned to
:48:00. > :48:06.reduce it but the new label council said they are prioritising it so
:48:06. > :48:10.that is a good thing for people in Hull. They are not putting it up.
:48:10. > :48:15.They are not, but they are prepared, they have been doing dry runs, they
:48:15. > :48:19.are ready for the big freeze. This is about central government cutting
:48:19. > :48:28.the funding to local authorities massively. That is a. David and I
:48:28. > :48:34.will probably agree on. -- that is a point David and I will agree on.
:48:34. > :48:40.Peter Buck from the LGA used a staggering figure, �10.5 billion to
:48:40. > :48:46.take the road network up to scratch. That is an enormous amount of money,
:48:46. > :48:51.how did we get into this state? had a couple of winters ago, one
:48:51. > :48:54.which I cannot remember for all my life the length of. It was frozen.
:48:54. > :48:59.What caught out all the local authorities is that they have a
:48:59. > :49:06.reasonable stock every winter, but they were not able to replenish
:49:06. > :49:14.that winter. Most authorities now, Bradford used to hold staff 1000
:49:14. > :49:22.tonnes, that it had �26,000. -- it used to hold 12,000 tonnes of grit,
:49:22. > :49:24.now it has �26,000. So it should had enough. Should we go down the
:49:24. > :49:28.Scandinavian route and spend a greater share of our national
:49:28. > :49:33.budget on snow clearing and protecting the roads in winter?
:49:33. > :49:37.There is a strong argument for that. As I have said, this is local
:49:37. > :49:41.authorities, having their budgets slashed massively. I have got to
:49:41. > :49:45.prioritise what is important to them. This is an example of central
:49:45. > :49:50.government attacking the local government and local governments
:49:50. > :49:56.are struggling to cope. That is the issue.
:49:56. > :50:00.On Tuesday, and MPs will debate the cost of fuel amid fresh called of a
:50:00. > :50:04.reduction in the amount of duty on petrol and diesel. Debate has come
:50:04. > :50:08.about after more than 100,000 people signed a government e-
:50:08. > :50:12.petition. Been while the Taxpayers' Alliance has carried out its own
:50:12. > :50:17.research which says drivers in rural areas are paying the highest
:50:17. > :50:24.price when it comes to taxes. Motorists over the country are
:50:24. > :50:31.overtaxed, but in Bradford, it is �209 per person, in excess, in
:50:31. > :50:35.rural areas it is even worse. In Selby, �400. We are the most
:50:36. > :50:40.overtaxed country in Europe when it comes to motoring taxes. The second
:50:40. > :50:46.most overtaxed in the world. David Ward, can you understand drivers,
:50:46. > :50:54.especially in rural areas, feeling they are being used boss a cash cow
:50:54. > :50:58.up for all governments? The easy thing to do is to make promises.
:50:58. > :51:01.Switch on the news tonight and you will see the troubles in Greece and
:51:01. > :51:06.Italy, possibly the troubles in France as well. Let alone the
:51:06. > :51:10.problems in this country. We all know what the problems are we face.
:51:10. > :51:14.To say, yes, we can give extra money to the motorist, we will just
:51:14. > :51:20.have to see what we can afford and what the arguments are in the
:51:20. > :51:25.debate. Karl Turner, remember the fuelled protests in 2000?
:51:25. > :51:29.Government upset the motoring lobby at your peril. It was the only time
:51:30. > :51:35.Tony Blair said he feared for his Go -- feared for his job. It is a
:51:35. > :51:38.huge strength of feeling. Absolutely, at families are feeling
:51:38. > :51:43.squeezed. The government can do something about it. What we say is
:51:44. > :51:49.they should not have increased VAT to 20%. They should bring that down
:51:49. > :51:52.for a short time. People are really concerned about their budget at the