11 MAY 1985, Page 21

Lloyd's scandal

Sir: Christopher Fildes takes a charitable and rather too amiable view (City and Suburban, 27 April) of the losses now coming to light at Lloyd's. In the case of his friend's syndicates it is by no means clear that the sum he is being required to pay this year is unrelated to the defalcations he was obliged to forgive last year.

The real scandal at Lloyd's is not the bad result of any particular syndicate or group but the woeful record of the Establishment at Lloyd's in protecting the underwriting members from the fraud, negligence, breach of trust and greed of many of the practitioners in the market.

Keith Whitten

58 Ridgway Place, London SW19