What the Whiplash Reforms Mean for Your Coach or Bus Business

English and Welsh coach operators, unable to operate their fleets for coach trip purposes during the Covid-19 pandemic, should have something to cheer when they finally return to the road this summer.

On May 31, 2021, the long-awaited and delayed Civil Liability Act 2018[1], which includes the Whiplash Injury Regulations[2], will come into force. Otherwise known as the Whiplash Reforms, this will tackle issues relating to the volume and inflation of claims for personal injuries related to soft tissue damage.

From May 31, 2021, claims involving whiplash injuries to adults living in England and Wales, will be subjected to new rules. Anyone with a whiplash claim to a value of under £5000 or who has a whiplash injury plus loss of earnings related to it, which are together to a value of under £10,000,can make a claim via the new Government portal which will not require legal representation. (This course of action would still be available if that was your choice[3].

The new online portal, developed by the Motor Insurer’s Bureau (MIB) for the Ministry of Justice, which is found at www.officialinjuryclaim.org.uk[3] This will be a self-service portal and it will point claimants towards registered medical reporting organisations (MROs) and medical experts, from which they will have to choose, in order to gain what is now obligatory medical evidence, to support their claim.[4]

From there, new fixed tariff rates will apply to whiplash injuries and a claimant will only be able to claim more than one of the applicable fixed amounts, if they have ‘exceptional’ circumstances. The maximum increase on the set tariff rate in such cases could be up to a 20% uplift which will be decided by the Courts. Furthermore, whiplash injury costs can only be claimed for a maximum of two years.

The Whiplash problem has led to more than 1500 whiplash claims every single day in the UK adding on average £90 to ever premium according to the ABI.[5] ,These actions are anticipated to lead to lower insurance premiums. This is partly because the reforms require evidence that insurer savings are being passed on to policyholders, with insurers having a duty to report on this to the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), by April 2024.[6]

With passenger transport operators – both coach operators and bus companies – having suffered exaggerated and inflated whiplash claims against them in the past, the impacts on their premiums could be tangible, even though children’s claims are not part of the regulations and thus school bus injuries would be treated differently. The famous case of the 30 men who hired a coach and faked a rear impact, so as to claim whiplash compensation[7], may be the most extreme but whiplash has long been felt to be the bane of the sector.

Coach operators will have a part to play in the new regime, however, which requires a faster gathering of evidence in defence of a claim – within 30 days, not the previous three months. Operators should ensure they have the right reporting systems in place and consider the use of other tools, such as telematics and dashcams, to have as much evidence as possible, for when a claim is uploaded to the new portal. Should evidence be disputed and go to court, drivers will also need to attend in person.

To find out what the new rules mean for your insurance and future liaison with your insurer, it is probably the right time to have a conversation with a specialist broker. The Whiplash Reforms could bring some better news to the bus and coach sector but, as with every new legal change, you need to be correctly geared up for it. To find a broker who can assist you, please get in touch.

Sources:
[1[ https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/civil-l...
[2] https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukdsi/2021/97803482...
[3] https://www.mib.org.uk/managing-insurance-data/mib...
[4] https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/whiplas...
[5] https://www.abi.org.uk/products-and-issues/topics-...
[6] https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/whiplas...
[7] https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-merseyside-2...