Monday, July 20, 2009

Fine Idea

I am slightly surprised that this seems to be slipping past wqithut anyone noticing. But, then again, this government are masters at sneaking through things without being up front. It appears that victims of assault and violent crime are to receive less compensation if they have been convicted of speeding. For instance, a rape victim will receive £37500 less if they have points on their licence. This is all in a move to save the government £25 million in compensation. It even stretches to murder, so a parent of a murdered child will receive less compensation if they have been fined in the last 5 years. Now, I in no way think monetary compensation is going to do anything to relieve the pain a parent would be going through, but this seems to just add insult to injury.

It is hard to express how shocked I am by this. The two things are so totally unrelated. How can anyone argue that someone who has been attacked and paralysed deserves less money just because they were caught speeding in the past. There is no justice in this, it is not fair. It is simply picking on an identifiable group. This is a despicable and cruel policy that shows the level of this governments inhumanity.

{I would like to point out that, while I have been caught speeding in my past, I currently have a clean licence. Although once the Audi A5 arrives......}

2 comments:

1 i z said...

Sounds appalling (or if I'm honest a bit like a Daily Mail scare story that turns out to not be the case at all). Have you got a source (been on holiday and news has rather passed me by!)?

Merlin said...

Have I got a source? Well, although I do have quite a few contacts in government now, nne of them would be a source! And I got rather hit over the head on Facebook by a legal friend of ours on this particular story. However it was reported by the Press Association and the Telegraph, along with approximately 40 other outlets. Is it true? I don't know. But I hope someone is checking.