Homeserves up Job losses

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Over one hundred employees will be forced to shop for work after their jobs at a Walsall insurance firm became impossible to maintain.

HomeServe has stated that 162 jobs will go at its base in Walsall with further losses at two sister locations. The company had employed more than 2,000 people across the UK.

Chief executive Richard Harpin said he expected its UK customer base to stabilise at about 1.9m customers by next year, a drop of about 350,000.

He said: "Our UK business is making progress improving the effectiveness of its sales and marketing activity and we have clear plans for increasing both customer acquisition and retention over the next two years. As a result we are announcing the loss of 300 roles in the UK business."

The Walsall firm, a one-stop shop for insurance policies ranging from burst pipe repairs, broken-down boilers and electrical problems, suspended its call-centre sales force following the mis-selling allegations in October 2011. 

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How Does Insurance Work?

A cracking little video explaining just how insurance works

Famous Insurance Constructions - The Royal Liver Building

Did you know, in 1907 the Royal Liver Group had over 6000 employees and required a new, larger premises. The firm had been set up  back in 1850 to provide locals with assistance related to losing a wage-earning relative. The company was very successful and the go-ahead was given for the new construction of a new head office to the designs of Walter Aubrey Thomas. Since its completion in 1911, it has overlooked the River Mersey from its waterfront location on the Pier Head and forms one of the 'Three Graces' along with the Port of Liverpool Building and the Cunard Building. This is reflected in the building's Grade I listed building status. It stands at 90 m (300 ft) tall and has 13 floors.

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1966 - A Year of Change

Unipower 1966 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

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It wasn’t until 1966 that drivers became subject to the laws of drink driving. With the introduction of the new Road Safety Bill at the start of the year, vehicle owners were capped from driving if there was 80mg of alcohol in 100cc of their blood. This was calculated through a urine test. The enforcement was part of the government's wider campaign to remind people to take more care on the roads and be mindful of the safety of nearby pedestrians. It took another year for the breathalyser test to come into force giving police the means to discern data from a suspect there and then at the roadside. The imitative helped decrease the percentage of road traffic accidents where alcohol had been a factor from 25% to 15% in the first year. There were 1,152 fewer recorded deaths, 11,177 fewer serious injuries and 28,130 fewer slight injuries caused by road traffic accidents.

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Kerry's Bid to Water-Down the Law

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Councillors in Ireland ‘s county Kerry are supporting a plan to relax the laws on drink driving for its isolated residents.

Councillor Danny Healy-Rae, who proposed the motion, said it would only apply to older people who are often home alone and falling into a state of depression. He believes current legislation is trapping the elderly in their own homes unable to go out and socialise due to the remote areas in which they live.

If successful the scheme would allow police to issue permits overriding the legal limit.

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However the move was condemned by the mayor of Kerry, who called it a dangerous proposition. “I don't know how anybody can be allowed to say, you've had two pints, so you're justified to drive.”

Conor Cullen of Alcohol Action Ireland told reporters at the BBC that almost one in three crash deaths in the country is alcohol-related. “Even in small amounts, alcohol impairs driving ability - any amount of alcohol increases the risk of involvement in a fatal crash. Those in rural areas who may be suffering from isolation will not benefit from putting their lives and the lives of the other members of their community at risk by drinking and driving.”

Drivers in Ireland are currently limited to a maximum of 20mg of alcohol per 100ml of blood. The UK’s however limits its road users to 80mg of alcohol per 100ml of blood.

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Can I Get High Risk Car Insurance?

Driving Cars in a Traffic Jam (Photo credit: epSos.de)

Drivers are considered to be high risk if they have violated the driving laws in the past and have been convicted. High risk people are also the new drivers especially those who have just learnt how to drive and been issued driving licenses. This category could also include the teenagers who apart from being new drivers, they are often rash and careless with their driving. The most common category of high risk individuals are those who have their records tarnished by convictions or multiple convictions of drinking under the influence or driving while intoxicated. Many insurance companies would rather not risk insuring these drivers but there are some companies that offer this category of drivers high risk car insurance. High risk car insurance is accessible but it is very expensive.

Kent Police stop  (Photo credit: kenjonbro)

Every driver should be insured under the laws of UK. Every vehicle should have cover for the third party. The third party policy covers all the damages or injuries that may be inflicted to the third party. Companies fear giving the high risk individuals this cover since they may end up making losses covering too many accidents.

An individual could sign up for insurance cover as a high risk or may turn into becoming one while still under the normal cover. This happens when they are convicted when still under normal cover. In such cases, when policy holders are involved in an accident(s) and they are convicted of driving offences, the insurance will not cater for the comprehensive cover but will only cover the third party damages. The payments for the cover will also increase from that moment since the policy holder will have also have become a “high risk” person.

Many companies have taken advantage of the situation and have been charging the high risk people exorbitant rates and the policyholders have been suffering silently believing there was no way out. This is far from the truth, despite having to pay more than the normal insurance rates; one can pay cheaper high risk car insurance rates. This can be done by taking time to do thorough research where one will compare several insurance companies to get the best. It will be surprising to learn that the difference, for the same policies, could be a huge figure that would save many pounds. One should also do some research to find out which companies offer the best packages that would suit them and are more reasonably. This should also involve research to find out which companies give the best discounts. 

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Why you Need insurance for Motor Homes

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Motor home owners need to have their property insured under the insurance for motor homes. One unavoidable reason is that this is a requirement by law. Apart from the trailer RVs which do not necessarily have to be insured, all other motor homes must have some insurance cover. Another reason why one will need motor home insurance cover is to get a peace of mind. Motor homes are expensive assets and are also prone to accidents making them high risk for the owners. This is especially the case for new motor home owners. Getting some cover for their priced assets could save them a huge fortune in the event that they are involved in an accident which could be on the road or while packed somewhere. Motor homes could be damaged by various things including falling trees!

In this day and age, many of the people do not have massive cash vaults that could come in handy in case of an emergency. As it is, accidents involving motor homes can turn out to be quite expensive to settle. One does not want to imagine the medical cost of covering the expenses of accidentally hitting a pedestrian, or ramming into an expensive luxury car. These are events that would put a nail in the coffin of a wonderful vacation if the owners are not insured. Well, an accident will definitely mar one’s holiday whether one is insured or not but at least if one is insured the effects will not be as adverse. It is therefore prudent to grapple with the monthly small premiums and to let the insurance handle the claims in case of an accident.

One also needs to get insurance for motor homes to cover the items that are inside the RV. RVs are just like homes, they are actually homes only that they are mobile. Therefore, within they have many items most of which are very valuable and personal. Being that they are in the motor home, these items are at a higher risk of getting damaged or lost through one way or another. Getting an insurance policy that will cover them will go a long way in saving huge fortunes in case of an accident.

One will also need insurance for motor homes to avoid getting stranded while on holiday. This can easily happen when the RV breaks down in the middle of nowhere. Motor home insurance companies will cover such incidences and will provide rapid reply services to assist the home owners.

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