LETTERS
Hard times
Sir: Mr David Coleridge is lucky to have a son so prepared to leap to his defence (Tay up, pay up and play the game', 30 May). But in defending his father Nicholas Coleridge clarifies the very point so many Lloyd's names are complaining about.
He compares the joining of a catastrophe syndicate with investing money in BCCI or Maxwell Communication shares. Many out- side names did not have the benefit of David Coleridge's long experience in insur- ance affairs, and they took the advice of their members' agent who might have been expected to have been acting on their behalf. I maintain that any responsible agent would have pointed out the dangers foreseen by Mr Coleridge before involving me on four such syndicates, especially as I had asked to be placed on low-risk syndi- cates.
Nicholas Coleridge also upbraids Mr Marland for not paying up speedily on the claims from the Gooda Walker syndicates. There is still an inquiry continuing into those syndicates, and should that inquiry show that `churning' (the re-insuring of risks purely to generate commission for the agents) has occurred, then there may well be grounds to show that the agents acted outside the brief given them by the names. In that event it will be of little consolation to those who have had to sell their homes or other property to be told, when Lloyd's have completed their inquiry some years hence, that the sale has proved to be unnecessary.
There is little sign of the vaunted `rescue plan for worst-hit names'. The last letter I received from David Coleridge was to tell me that he was compounding my losses by imposing a 1.66% levy, but then I suppose a few more thousand are a mere drop in the ocean to people on the sort of salary gener- ated by the professionals of the insurance business. The average annual remuneration for the active underwriters on the 18 syndi- cate reports I have seen so far this year is f135,992.
Sally Howard-Vyse Town Farm, Langton, Malton, North Yorkshire
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