We're looking through some of the clauses in a British car insurance policy. In this instance it's the "Emergency Treatment" clause and it sorts out who is responsible for any medical attention needed as the result of a motoring incident.
UK motoring regulations state that you must pay costs to the first medical person to treat you following an accident. This is part of the Road Traffic Act. People have been known to refer to this as a charge for an ambulance. In reality this is not true but in reality it is normally the ambulance men who provide the medical treatment and the account comes to you from the National Health Service Trust that sent the ambulance and its crew.
The law requires you to pay this no matter who is blamed for causing the accident. Your insurer will always pay the bill under this section. Just send the paperwork on to them and they will remit it straight to the hospital. Alternatively you can pay it out of your own pocket and get your insurer to reimburse you.
Sometimes in a hectic claims environment, the clerical staff could miss the invoice if you have sent it in amongst other forms. Indeed you might receive a reminder from the hospital that the invoice remains unpaid. Tell the hospital who your insurers are and telephone your claims office. Be forceful but please don't lose your temper.
Payment of this account in itself does not affect your no claims bonus. It is not regarded as a claim. So, in the unlikely event that your insurers were to pay this and nothing else then your bonus would remain unharmed. But in an accident where someone is hurt, it is unlikely there will be no other claims to be dealt with.
Theoretically, if another party is to blame for the accident you can send the invoice on to their insurance company but you are just asking for unnecessary complications. I would advise you not to bother. It doesn't make any difference to you either way.
As a result of recent alterations to the law, hospitals now also charge insurers for treatment given to third party accident victims, with certain limits applied. These are claimed by the NHS Trust in cases where you were to blame for the accident and somebody else has needed treatment for the injury that you caused. This change to the regulations has dramatically increased the cost of settling claims and has thus increased your insurance premiums. Some of those inside the insurance industry consider that this is a further case of increasing taxation by stealth by the Government.
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