A recent Privy Council ruling now means that vehicle insurance coverage will apply only when the vehicle is operated by the person named on its insurance policy and no other, Opposition Leader Keith Rowley said yesterday. He said the ruling-barring third-party coverage-meant only drivers named on the policy would be insured if an accident occurs. Nor would passengers be covered by the insurance unless the vehicle was driven by the person whose name was on the policy, he added.
"If ever there was a need to call the Parliament out of recess to deal with something urgently this is it, since it impacts on hundreds of thousands of vehicles out there, all being operated by persons who have the permission and authority of the owner but whose names are not on the policies," Rowley added at the weekly Opposition media briefing yesterday.
He said the development had arisen from a Privy Council ruling on a case in which a company was called on to pay a claim and had refused. The matter was first adjudicated in the local High Court. He said the major ruling by the Privy Council on the Motor Vehicle /Traffic Act was that the company was only liable for acts incurred in the use of a car only where the car was driven by the person named on the policy for the vehicle.
He added: "What we have taken for granted for decades in having your child drive your car and being covered by insurance - that is not so. "The Privy Council has now ruled that unless the driver's name is recorded on the policy, then no coverage is paid for that person." Also, he said, people damaged by the car would not have access to coverage, nor would the owner of the vehicle be covered for any damage the vehicle may incur.
Rowley added: "So we are largely uninsured, except for those persons named on insurance policies. "This is a very serious development which requires serious and immediate response from Government. "The Government is required to look at this matter and ensure the necessary amendments are made as a matter of urgency so this state of affairs would not continue." He said the PNM's interpretation of the situation was that there was now largely an absence of insurance.
"I"m therefore calling on Government to move with haste to respond," Rowley added. He said Parliament was summoned out of recess as a matter of urgency last week to deal with Financial Intelligence Unit legislation which should have been dealt with earlier, since the matter was known to Government and could have been responded to well before last week. ?
He said the FIU issue, however, had put the Government and its friends under scrutiny. Commenting on the new Woodbrook traffic plan, Rowley said that was the sole responsibility of the Works Ministry rather than the Port-of-Spain Corporation and the PNM had noted it was having a negative effect on the people of Woodbrook and St James, which formed part of the city's business district. The corporation is PNM-controlled.
He said he lived in the West and had noticed an improvement in the traffic flow but added that the plan required review and consultation because of the concerns of those in Woodbrook and St James.
