Newsletter

The "New Look" Reid Hamilton Website

Since the last Newsletter our website has received a complete makeover from Broker Network's IT & Design Team. In addition to the facility to request quotations for various types of business, we now have a fully functional area for secure premium payment. This will be particularly useful for the many clients we have who live abroad but own investment property in the UK.

You'll find us at www.reidhamilton.co.uk

Fleet Operators and Motor Garages Beware!

The police make over two million enquires every month on the Motor Insurance Database and if they believe that a private vehicle does not have insurance, they have the power to seize it, with a release fee of around £200 payable. This power also extends to commercial vehicles.

So if you operate multiple vehicles where you have an open certificate of insurance, as a fleet operator or motor trader, be absolutely sure that additional vehicles are notified to the Motor Insurance Database by your usual method. If you have any queries about this do get in touch with us for clarification.

Fire Safety – Your Responsibilities

The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 signifies a major reform of fire safety legislation that affects the vast majority of premises and workplaces in England and Wales (with a similar statute for Scotland) and came into force on 1st October 2006.

The aim of the legislation is to raise awareness of fire safety issues and raise standards of fire prevention and protection generally.

From a practical point of view, the new law requires all business premises to conduct and record a Fire Risk Assessment and implement any recommendations that may arise. For example, at our own offices we hold significant levels of paper records in our basement and our building has timber floors throughout, so following our own Risk Assessment we decided to install a fire alarm system with smoke detectors in every room and automatic emergency lighting throughout. Expensive, yes, but you can't put a price on life.

If you haven't yet got round to addressing this Risk Assessment requirement we suggest that you do so urgently as, unsurprisingly, hefty penalties can be handed out to those who fail to comply.

We are able to help you by providing fact sheets for your guidance and arranging a full professional Fire Risk Assessment if required. If you need any help with this, just contact any member of the Reid Hamilton Commercial Team.

More Expensive "Red Tape!"

Last year the Financial Services Authority announced that the "Key Facts" logo that must appear on certain documents that all insurance companies and brokers send out was to change, because this had been registered as a trade mark.

As a consequence, from 6th November 2006 all documentation bearing the logo had to be re-printed to change the logo...

...from this:

...to this!:

Just imagine the industry-wide expense this little "R" has involved, and all in the name of consumer protection.