Find cheap insurance for your bicycle

Find cheap insurance for your bicycle

asbestos lawyers donate insurance

January 24, 2018 Add Comment

Are you one of the many cycling enthusiasts on UK roads that enjoys feeling the wind in your hair or the thrill of soaring down a hill at breakneck speeds? Do you cycle to work come rain or shine, warding off cars and buses with a steely glare? Or perhaps you just nip to the shops on your trusty bicycle? Whichever your style, pedal power has its attractions.

For one thing, cyclists can save a lot of money on train fares and petrol, but they can also cut down on pollution and improve their overall health and fitness levels. So what are the downsides?

Put simply, bikes are attractive to thieves: last year 276,000 bikes were stolen, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS). However, while bike theft is at its lowest for more than 30 years, it’s never been costlier for bicycle owners. That’s because the value of stolen bikes is at an all-time high: the average cost is £476, which is almost double the 2005/06 figure of £250.

As this data shows, it’s more important than ever to make sure you have the right cover to protect yourself and your wheels.
Why is bicycle insurance important?

Assuming that a bike is covered under home contents insurance is a mistake. While some home insurers will include cycle cover on their policies as standard, often the bike is only insured if it is inside the property or secured properly in an outbuilding like a shed or garage.

So if your bike is stolen from the back garden or when you are out and about, you will not be covered. For example, if the theft took place when you were out shopping for groceries or if it was locked up at the train station, your insurer is unlikely to pay the claim. But you can often extend your home insurance to cover your bike when it is outside the house.

That said, firms that offer specialist bicycle insurance are becoming more prevalent for the increasing number of cycling enthusiasts. Policy wording may differ, but most will cover your bike against theft – whether left inside or outside the house – if your bike is secured properly with an approved lock. If you don’t secure your bike according to their stipulations, your claim could be rejected.
Not only theft

The good news is that specialist bicycle insurance doesn’t only cover theft, but should also pay out for accidental damage or vandalism. You should check whether the policy includes any third party liability cover, just in case you injure another person or damage their car or bicycle.

The number of cyclists on the roads these days means that accidents are more common place, so it's wise to take out suitable insurance.

It doesn't matter whether you’re a casual cyclist with your trusty two wheels or a serious enthusiast with a custom racing bike that cost thousands of pounds – cycle insurance can be tailor-made to meet your needs.
Problems with cover


If you’ve taken out bike insurance, make sure you know the policy exclusions to prevent voiding your cover or the rejection of a claim. The most common exclusions are:
If you use your bike for monetary gain, such as being a cycle courier.
Any loss where you cannot prove you own the bike, so keep the receipt of sale.
Any cosmetic damage won’t be covered – scratches and dents that don’t affect how the bike actually rides are not covered, for example.
Any damage to accessories, like tyres or mud guards, unless the bike itself is damaged at the same time.
Theft of your bike when you have not secured your bike properly.
Any accidents that may happen under the influence of drugs or alcohol will void your claim.
Top tips for cyclists against thieves

1. Get the best lock money can buy

You get what you pay for when it comes to locks, meaning a cheap lock will be little deterrent to a bike thief. In most cases, the more expensive a lock, the better it will be at protecting your bike from theft – D-locks are often the most secure.

Lock manufacturers have their own ratings for levels of protection and these can be read as an indicator of security. If you use anything other than an approved lock brand or level of security, then your claim will be rejected.

Look out for locks rated on the ‘Sold Secure’ scale – bronze, silver and gold – as these are approved by most insurers. However, as with any insurance policy, check your details to be sure.

2. Lock your bike properly, in the safest location

Make sure to attach your bike to something that can’t be moved or lifted, as your bike is only as secure as the thing you attach it to. For example, a mesh fence only needs a small pair of wire cutters to get through.

Never leave your bike in an isolated place, instead choose to lock it in a well-lit area that people pass frequently and, if possible, with CCTV near to your location.

You should also lock the wheels (if they are quickly removable) together with the frame, ensuring the D-lock is secure and close to the bike. Any manoeuvrability will allow the thief the leverage to break the lock. And removing any lights and the seat will prove an annoyance to any prospective thieves.

Remember that two – preferably different – locks are better than one, as this gives the thief more of a challenge and they will need more tools to prise the locks open. It is very unlikely that a thief will have the correct tools to break both a D-lock and a chain lock, and so a combination provides a formidable opposition.

3. Register and insure your bike

It’s important and necessary to register your bike with the correct company, as it will assist the police in identifying a stolen bike and boost the chance of it being returned to you. Several companies offer this protection for free, aimed at reducing bicycle crime, but bikeregister.com is the UK’s leading registration service and is used by the police.

A policy not only insures you against theft, either inside or outside the home, but will protect you from damage incurred from vandalism or accidents. In addition, you can insure for personal accident and public liability so that if you damage someone else’s property or person, you are covered.
Which companies provide specialist bike cover?

We want to show you as many insurers as possible, so that you can choose what suits you best. But, we can’t promise to show you every single insurer, because some insurers don’t want to be included on comparison websites.
Source

So just how easy is it to get a gun in Minneapolis?

So just how easy is it to get a gun in Minneapolis?

asbestos lawyers donate

January 24, 2018 Add Comment

Eighteen-year-old Dae’veon has seen everything from assault weapons to handguns, and it wasn’t hard for him to find them. In fact, he’s owned several handguns, shotguns and even a submachine gun, he said. And all of it he bought without a background check, no questions asked.

Last year, Dae’veon, who agreed to talk if his last name was kept anonymous, was caught with a gun and charged with aggravated robbery. That’s when he decided he needed to keep his head down, focus on school and try to turn his life around. But he knows if he wanted to, all he’d have to do is make a quick phone call to get another gun, he said. “It’s like going to the store to buy a pop,” he said. “You just call whoever you know that has a gun and tell them what you want to spend.”

In what now seems like an annual debate, the hot-button topic of gun reform reignited several months ago after another high-profile mass shooting, this one in San Bernardino, California. In response, President Barack Obama issued a series of executive orders to beef up firearm background checks around the country.

The move was greeted with hostility by gun-rights activists, who say the expanded checks would make little difference in preventing firearms from reaching criminals.

Minnesota recently joined the fray as well. Earlier this month, two DFL lawmakers, Sen. Ron Latz and Rep. Dan Schoen, introduced a bill that would require background checks on all gun sales in the state, a measure supported by a number of advocacy groups and law enforcement associations, who say it could help prevent firearms from reaching the wrong hands — like those with criminal backgrounds or minors like Dae’veon. It too has received pushback from gun-rights groups.

And yet, for all the disagreements over whether increased background checks will work, one fact is beyond dispute when it comes to guns in Minnesota. Like it or not, they are remarkably easy to acquire.

'There's no law against that'

In Minnesota, to legally buy a gun from a store requires that the purchaser be at least 18 and have a permit issued by the applicant's county sheriff’s office or police chief — a process that also subjects the applicant to both a state and federal background check.

But here’s the wrinkle: For those who already have a permit and simply want to sell a gun to someone else, there’s no law requiring a background check.

Therein lies the problem, said Heather Martens, the executive director of Protect Minnesota, a group advocating for tightening gun laws. The lack of regulation around private gun sales makes it too easy for those who shouldn’t own guns to be able to get them, a complication that goes beyond the oft-cited issue of gun show sales.

“If you want to fill the trunk of your car with guns and drive to any street, park there and start selling guns, you can,” Martens said. “There’s no law against that.”

Technology has made things even easier. Many individuals also sell their guns online on websites like Armslist.com, where all people need to do is create a free account to gain access to people selling firearms all around the state.

Like Craigslist, Armslist connects sellers with individual buyers who can contact them through the website. After connecting them, the individuals can go about their transaction in any way they see fit, so long as it doesn’t cross state boundaries. A search on the website shows almost 3,000 guns for sale in Minnesota alone, with prices ranging between $175 for a shotgun, to $1,300 for an assault weapon.

Where guns come from; where they go

Marcel Urman, who now helps youth find employment on the north side for the nonprofit Emerge, said he ran with gangs back in the ‘90s when there were four or five large gangs in Minneapolis. Back then, the gangs would rob gun stores then disseminate them throughout the rest of the city, he said, so if you wanted a gun you had limited options.

But according to Dae’veon, the gun market today is much more decentralized, with many buyers and sellers and spreading mostly through word of mouth. And once you’ve found a connection, he said, it’s like buying anything else off Craigslist.

Nineteen-year-old John, who did not want to be identified because of safety concerns, said the largest stockpiles of guns for sale that he has seen were out in the suburbs, not the cities.

John said he knows some people who steal guns from houses or stores, but a lot of the guns that make their way to Minneapolis’ streets are purchased legally. “Some people who’ve got gun licenses, they’ll sell them, then report it stolen,” he said.


Martens said legally purchased guns remain a main channel for firearms syphoning into Minneapolis.

But Minneapolis Police Department Deputy Chief Bruce Folkens said there’s no single source attributed to the firearms confiscated in the city each year. “For years now, we’ve traced every gun that we recover,” Folkens said. “We do look at where these guns are coming from … it’s across the map.”

What is clear, Folkens said, is where the guns are ending up. According to MPD data, around 700 guns are confiscated each year, and more than half those confiscations occur in north Minneapolis’ Fourth Precinct.

Folkens said the city has ramped up their gun investigations this year to try and quell those high numbers, including adding four more officers to their Violent Crimes Investigation Team last November, bumping the shooting investigation unit up to six officers.

But Martens said that’s not enough, that sellers are incentivized to sell those guns to areas stricken by high poverty and crime. “How can you stop a behavior if it’s not even illegal?” she asked.

Joining the debate

Marit Brock, with the Minnesota chapter of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, said most Minnesotans approve of background checks on private gun sales.

According to a survey done by Public Policy Polling in 2015 of Minnesotans who voted, 84 percent of them support universal background checks on gun sales — compared to 11 percent who opposed.

Despite those poll numbers, Brock said, most Minnesotans don’t know about the so-called “gun show loophole,” which refers to private gun sales that don’t require background checks or federal licenses. “So, closing the gun shows sales loophole and requiring background checks on all gun sales is an important priority for us, here in Minnesota.”

Andrew Rothman, president of Gun Owners Civil Rights Alliance, a gun-rights advocacy group, disagrees. He said enforcing a universal background check would merely create a federal registry of firearms and do nothing to stop criminals from obtaining guns both legally and illegally. “When someone intends to commit a violent crime, the last thing on their mind is making sure that they don’t commit a paperwork violation,” he said. “Criminals will continue to buy and sell firearms illegally.”

Another issue with instituting a universal background check, Rothman said, is that creating a registry for all guns amounts to universal surveillance, and often leads to an increase in confiscations. “Having the registry of firearms is the presumption that we just haven’t committed a crime yet but we better keep an eye on you,” he said.

Rothman said most gun owners are law-abiding and that most gun-related violence is happening in urban areas like Chicago and Minneapolis, where gun violence is related to drug trades and other illegal activity. Instead of gun-ownership, lawmakers should look at increasing the penalty for repeat offenders of gun violence and illegal possession, he said.

But Martens said not enough responsibility is being placed on those who sell firearms irresponsibly, while too much blame is being placed on communities of color when it comes to gun violence.

“The youth of Minneapolis are not manufacturing guns and bringing them into the city,” she said. “Somebody else is doing that.”

Martens said many people, especially in rural areas of Minnesota, don’t understand the different circumstances in the city and these clashing cultural attitudes are preventing people in Minnesota from finding common ground on gun legislation.

And while policy makers fight over reform, Martens said, it’s the youth who ultimately suffer. “We actually all have a responsibility to keep guns out of the hands of kids,” she said. “And often we’re faced with blame of the kids themselves.”

Auckland Airport donates abandoned car to women's refuge charity

Auckland Airport donates abandoned car to women's refuge charity

asbestos lawyers donate

January 23, 2018 Add Comment

Auckland Airport's Anna Cassels-Brown, left, with Wheels for Women convenor Catriona MacLennan and The Aunties founder Jackie Clark.

Auckland Airport has found a new home for one of the many abandoned cars that ended up in its carpark this year.

Instead of its usual process of selling off the good condition dumped Toyota, it has partnered with a women's refuge coordinator to help a lady in need.

Jackie Clark, founder of The Aunties charity, was brought to tears when the airport officially handed over the keys to the car, which now belongs to a south Auckland woman.

About 60 cars are abandoned at Auckland Airport each year, and now one of those will help a woman in need.

Partnered with the Wheels for Women project, Clark says it's an enormous gesture and will help the woman gain some independence.

"This is my dream and passion and it means everything to me when people step forward. I get really overwhelmed by people who do really big things for us," Clark says.

The Aunties was established by Clark five years ago and focuses on providing much-needed items to women's refuge centres in Auckland.

She says being able to just give women things like clothing and towels is overwhelming for them as it represents love.

"Women who've lived through domestic violence are not used to people caring about them.

"It gives them hope which pushes them forward to be able to do anything."

Wheels for Women is a project in association with The Aunties to provide cars to domestic violence survivors, with plans to deliver three cars during its pilot run of the scheme this year.

"People often say with domestic violence victims 'why doesn't she leave?' but it's incredibly hard to leave and get away," convenor Catriona MacLennan says.

"Cars are something which gives them safety and independence and turns domestic violence victims into survivors."

About 60 cars are abandoned at Auckland Airport each year, which the organisation disposes of or sells through auctions after it's been left unclaimed for a few months.

They get dumped there for various reasons, a lot of the time by people who are in financial trouble and fleeing the country.

It has been working to donate the car to the charities for six months, which required things like insurance, a new registration, warrant of fitness, and change of ownership.

People and safety general manager Anna Cassels-Brown says the project is a great way for the airport to utilise cars which are in good order and give back to the community.

It's now looking into other ways it can make use of its dumped cars, including through its student work experience programmes, Cassels-Brown says.

Source