Tesco Says "Don't touch our Muffins" & It's official - Women can't park

NCD News: Insurance News in Brief: Tesco, Sainsburys, Muffins and Elephants - 24.09.09

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Tesco Says "Don't touch our Muffins" & It's official - Women can't park: >>>> Despite having more than £3500 in personal belongings, only 34% of students living away from home have contents insurance. A further 10% have no idea if they have insurance or not. This research comes from Sainsburys Finance who also point out that 1 in 3 students will be a victim of crime each year. They also recommend that parents check their home insurance policies to see if their kids are covered while away studying.

>>>> Aviva have been doing the rounds of the country's worst parking spots and have come up with a list of the worst ten. One space in Horsefair park in Wisbech is obstructed by a large concrete post and is so narrow that only the tiniest car would fit into it. However, once in the driver may not be able to exit their car. Aviva have sent expert "guiders" to some of the car parks over the next 2 days to help nervous drivers get into the tight spots.

(We thought this was a hoax announcement originally, if it turns out to be so ... sorry. If not, it's hilarious in it's own right.)

>>>> However, those experts may be able to help the subjects of Elephant.co.uk's recent survey. They have discovered that women suffer from parking stress and an incredible 75% would have trouble reversing into a parking space if they were being watched. Another 22% say they cannot parallel park and 28% admit to having asked someone else to park for them. Obviously the figures for the men in the survey are very much lower. It seems that the old spatial awareness/male/female argument actually holds up.

>>>> The Welsh Assemblies Enterprise and Learning committee have released a report detailing ways in which deaths on Welsh roads could be cut. They hope to target commercial operations with poor driving records, provide more rest facilities, lose some roadside clutter and reduce speeds in residential and town centre areas to 20MPH. A similar scheme in Hull has reduced road injuries by 60%. The RAC say that local factors should be taken into consideration before blanket restrictions are adopted.

>>>> With the Royal Mail strike continuing to cause problems throughout the UK, More Than's marketing director has called on Royal Mail to resolve the issues. More Than say that their business is date driven, with renewals relying on prompt mail delivery. Their call centres also operate in the knowledge that renewals arrive at a certain time. As the insurance company is one of Royal Mails top 15 customers, they will not want them to start to consider alternative ways to ensure their own customer satisfaction.

The postal strikes were also in the news as being likely to affect the credit ratings of thousands of Brits. With a building backlog of mail to shift, it seems likely that many credit card, store card and other credit facility users may get their statements AFTER the due date of the required payment. Unless you're paying careful attention to when your statement should have arrived by, it may be advisable to contact your credit provider and ask when the next payment is due.

>>>> A number of compensation cases have come to light today, including the case of Dianne Williams who is entering into a test case against her council. She says that her incurable lung cancer was caused by her time as a pupil in one of the countries many asbestos infested 1960's school buildings. If successful it could open the doors to many other cases.

100 Liverpool school dinner staff will miss out on an equal pay compensation payout because their roles have been moved into the private sector. The staff were moved under TUPE legislation to private employees and as such are no longer eligible for the compensation. They can pursue their ex-employers themselves, but this will be expensive.

5000 people find out today what their compensation will be following the largest case of consumer injury in UK history. They were all harmed by their sofas when they suffered reactions to an anti mould chemical inside them. The actions taken against Argos and Land of Leather, among others, could see each victim getting as much as £5000.

>>>> Everyone's favourite insurer, Kwik Fit, is sponsoring this years Lollipop Person of the year. The lucky winner will receive a holiday of a life time and their school will get a number of prizes including £3000 to spend on equipment. To vote for your favourite go to www.bestlollipop.co.uk before the end of October.

>>>> Two Italian foreign exchange students found themselves in trouble at a an Exexter branch of Tesco this week. They were stopped by a security guard and bundled into the stores basement after apparently damaging two muffins in the store. The girls were caught on CCTV touching and squeezing muffins to assess their freshness before buying one. They were warned that they could face prosecution and a fine before being released with a warning. The same Tesco store had previously banned a man from all stores countrywide after he took a bite from a bread roll before paying.

>>>> Finally, research by the Mirror newspaper has revealed that insurance companies can charge up to an extra 25% for paying premiums by instalment. This is even though interest rates on loans are very low. The AA justifies this by pointing out that the extra cost covers the occasional need to recover unpaid instalments. The also say that there has been a 17% increase in direct debit policies being cancelled after a few months. †