Types
of Mobility Scooter Insurance
The insurance can be divided into two areas:
1.The scooter
2.Third party
The Scooter
Cover for the scooter usually protects you against the cost of repairs to, or
replacement of your mobility product in the event of an accident. Some policies
also cover or will pay towards the recovery costs of getting you and your mobility
product home following an accident or breakdown.
Third Party
If you accidentally collide into anyone or anyone’s property and you are sued
for negligence the insurance should pay for your defense and the resultant damages
if you are found to be negligent. Such situation could include hitting a pedestrian,
crashing into a car, or causing an accident through negligent driving.
Conclusion
It is worth while holding adequate insurance to cover your scooter and any potential
claims against you should any accidents occur. Shop around to ensure you receive
a good quote which offers adequate cover.
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What Can go Wrong with no insurance?
Pensioner to sell home to pay scooter accident costs
A
disabled pensioner claims she and her family are on the verge of losing their
home following an accident involving a mobility scooter at a supermarket.
Gloria Brown, 61, from Rhyl, Denbighshire, said a scooter collided with hers,
injuring a staff member at the town's Morrisons store in 2005.
A county court hearing later found her liable and she was ordered to pay costs
and compensation of more than £16,000.
Morrisons declined to comment, saying legal proceedings were ongoing.
Mrs Brown said her scooter was stationary in December 2005 when a customer using
a scooter provided by Morrisons collided with hers, sending her crashing into
a trolley being used by a member of staff.
The female worker suffered an injury to her knee.
Four months later, Ms Brown was told she was being taken to court by the injured
woman.
In January, the county court found her liable and ordered her to pay compensation
and legal costs of more than £16,000, which included about £3,000 towards Morrisons'
costs.
Ms Brown said she could not afford legal representation at the time.
An offer to pay off the debt on a monthly basis was rejected, she said, because
she was told her age made it likely she would die before the money was paid.
She added that she had tried to get scooter insurance in the past, but was told
it was only provided by specialist companies.
She has now agreed to the sale of her home in order to meet the costs she faces
and says the sale will be completed this month.
A hearing to address how she should pay the legal bill is set for 18 May.
'Let down'
Ms Brown said she, and her husband and daughter, could not afford to buy another
property.
"The way I've been treated by the system, I feel I've been let down as a disabled
person," she said.
"But I also feel that every other disabled person that needs this mode of transport
is in danger of having the same thing happen to them.
"And laws need to be changed to help people like myself that do want to be independent,
do want to go shopping and not rely on anybody."
Ms Brown, whose medical problems include osteoarthritis, still uses a mobility
scooter but no longer goes into shops with it. She said her situation has had
a massive impact on her life, adding:
"It's just destroyed us as a family."
The solicitor representing the injured worker has yet to comment.
The case emerged as the House of Commons' transport select committee called on
ministers to keep a better record of accidents involving mobility vehicles.
The committee of MPs had heard about a blind man who drove a scooter across a
road and was hit by a bus and a lady who was pulled over by her dog and killed
when her scooter fell on her.
The committee says the increasing use of scooters means the government needs to
assess the scale of the problem and act.
Source: bbc.co.uk
