Fine Gael attacks Hibernian premium plan

Hibernian has been accused of "a despicable abuse of the penalty points system" in raising premiums for certain drivers and refusing to provide others with cover at all.

Fine Gael spokesman on enterprise, trade and employment, Mr Phil Hogan, condemned the "high-handed" penalty points initiative unveiled by Hibernian last week as "crass opportunism" and called on the Minister for Transport Mr Brennan to review the Government's arrangement with the company.

However, the Minister last night dismissed the call, saying he had been looking for companies to link penalty points to insurance premiums. "I have always wanted insurance companies to send a strong signal on road safety," he said.

Hibernian, which insures close to a third of all Irish motorists, promised last May to introduce discounts from the beginning of November for people who have received no penalty points. The move came in response to urgings by Mr Brennan for the insurance industry to respond to the Government introduction of penalty points.

Mr Brennan said he had been disappointed and frustrated by the way companies other than Hibernian had responded to his approaches.

Details of Hibernian's plans emerged last week. It said it would give a 10 per cent discount to people with no points but would "load" customers who received six points by the same amount. A further 5 per cent loading operates for each additional point. Hibernian also announced it would refuse to take on new customers who had received five or more points.

Mr Hogan said Hibernian "seems intent on using the penalty points system to increase its revenues via the back door, without any objective justification for increasing premiums".

He said the plans illustrated the lack of competition and effective regulation of the industry.

He also called on the Equality Authority to investigate whether Hibernian's approach amounts to discrimination and on the Data Privacy Commissioner to assess whether it involves the improper use of data.

As part of the plan, Hibernian customers will have to give the insurer their unique driver number. That will enable Hibernian to access their confidential details on the National Driver File.

Drivers who fail to inform Hibernian of their driver number three months before their next renewal will lose any discount.