Britain has recently faced the possibility of a strike by the drivers of petrol tankers, which could have led to catastrophic fuel shortages throughout the UK. This led to many people choosing to try and stock up on fuel in anticipation of such a strike – acting on the advice of the UK government – while the government itself looked at ways of circumventing the problems that would be caused by any such strike action. One issue that was raised as a result of the threatened fuel strikes was the possibility of increases in insurance premiums for HGVs.
HGV stands for Heavy Goods Vehicle, an umbrella term which can refer to any vehicle which carries large quantities from one place to another – with one of the vehicles which would come under this term being the petrol tankers driven by the drivers at the centre of the fuel dispute. HGV insurance is offered by a number of specialist companies, including Staveley Head, whose website can be found at http://www.staveleyhead.com and works on the same principle as other types of vehicle insurance; with the rate of the premiums being determined by the level of risk that those driving the vehicles present. Therefore a fuel strike in itself would not be enough to automatically lead to an increase in the rate of insurance premiums for HGVs.
What may lead to such an increase is the possibility, in the event of such a strike, that alternative and comparatively untrained drivers were brought in to replace those who were on strike. Indeed this was one course of action that the government were considering, with suggestions that soldiers would be employed as emergency fuel tanker drivers. This could have led to insurance premium increases for those HGVs, because the untrained drivers would have represented a higher insurance risk, but this would not have been reflected in general HGV insurance premium levels.
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