Insurers could fork out £20 million after Liverpool car park inferno, says trade body
Around 1,400 vehicles were destroyed when the car park at the Liverpool Echo Arena went up in flames
An insurance trade body says some £20 million could be paid out to victims of a Liverpool car park inferno that incinerated some 1,600 vehicles.
The Association of British Insurers (ABI) estimated the claims figure following the 1,000-degree Centigrade blaze that took hold of the Liverpool Echo Arena’s car park during the final event of the four-day Liverpool International Horse Show.
Terrified motorists abandoned their cars and fled from the blaze, along with 4,000 attendees of the show, on New Year’s Eve.
The fire, which was hot enough to melt aluminium, engulfed seven floors of the multi-storey car park on the city’s waterfront. The blaze spread after a Land Rover in the car park burst into flames.
Rob Cummings, head of motor and liability at the ABI, said: “Insurance exists for just this sort of event, and insurers were working hard over the bank holiday to get on with processing people’s claims as quickly as possible. Customers affected should be reassured that insurers are expecting to pay out around £20 million to help get them back on the road.
“The insurance industry pays out tens of millions of pounds every day, so while this is a very unusual event, it is well within the bounds of what firms expect to deal with.”
Payments have already been made to hundreds of people who lost their vehicles in the blaze, with a number of insurers bringing in extra staff to ensure claims are dealt with as swiftly as possible. Emergency claims lines were open on New Year’s Day.
As well as getting the money to replace their vehicles, customers have also been making claims for the value of belongings, which were inside. Depending on the cover they had, some people will also be able to get money back for transport costs.
The motor insurance industry paid out £33 million in claims every day in 2016. However, the ABI said it was highly unusual to have so many vehicles destroyed at the same time at a single location.
