Anger at insurance refusal for navy man (From Worcester News)

Anger at insurance refusal for navy man

12:49pm Wednesday 7th March 2007 in

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A NAVAL officer was refused car insurance when he was classed as high risk' because of his job - despite having never made a claim.

Peter Evans from Droitwich says he is disgusted by the way an insurance company has treated his son, a petty officer in the Royal Navy with a distinguished 12 year service record.

Mr Evans tried to get his 29-year-old son James insured with First Direct as the named driver so he could buy him a new car on his return from Gibraltar next month.

He phoned the company on Monday morning and was then called back five minutes later only to be told that his son was too high risk' to be insured because he was in the Royal Navy.

Mr Evans had already bought his son a car - a Peugeot Mardi Gras - as a home-coming present.

He phoned around seven other insurance companies, all of which provided quotes and he managed to get his son insured with Liverpool Victoria the same day he was turned down by First Direct.

Mr Evans, aged 66, from Grafson Place, Droitwich, said his family had a long tradition of military service - his father received the Burma Star fighting the Japanese in World War Two while he was a petty officer in the Royal Navy, like his son.

He added: "They just kept on saying he's really high risk because of his occupation. He's not going to have the car very long - he's going to Iraq in September. It's appalling. We have one of the finest armies in the world and the navy is classed as even more capable. It's disgraceful to treat a man like that."

Mr Evans who has never made an insurance claim himself since he began driving since 1957 and is a member of the Institute of Advanced Motorists was shocked by the decision not to give insurance to his son.

First Direct press office declined to comment when contacted by the Worcester News.