UK reveals plans to scrap EU Vnuk law in 2021

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Premiums were expected to hike for claims made against people driving vehicles not primarily designed for use on the road if the EU law stayed in effect. This includes claims against heavier-duty lawnmowers, mobility scooters and golf buggies.

Typically, these types of vehicles are exempt from needing motor insurance.

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps announced on Friday that the Commons had voted to scrap the EU technicality that would have seen insurance premiums in the UK shoot up by around £50 a year.

The Bill will now progress to the House of Lords.

The Transport Secretary tweeted: “Delighted to report Peter Bone – working with the Government – has taken a Bill through the House of Commons today to remove an EU requirement that if implemented would have potentially increased motorists’ insurance premiums by about £50 a year.

“Onto the Lords! #VNUK #BrexitDividend.”

The origin of the rule was in a 2007 case in Slovenia, when a farmworker called Damijan Vnuk was injured on private land after being knocked from a ladder by a tractor.

Blocked from claiming damages from the insurance company for the tractor, the court case he raised escalated to the European Court of Justice years later.

The eventual result was a policy across the EU that motor insurance was needed for all vehicles in any setting, wider than the original designation for just road users.

Government figures from 2021 analysed the cost in the UK for this category of claim to be over £2billion each year – which boils down to about £50 per year for every motorist.

In February 2021, Mr Shapps said the rule set by the Vnuk case must be overturned or else it “would only do one thing – hit the pockets of hard-working people up and down the country with an unnecessary hike in their car insurance”.

Although never implemented in the UK, the Government committed to blocking its implementation, adding: “Had the EU law been implemented in Great Britain, it would have meant the insurance industry would have been liable for almost £2billion in extra overall costs.

“These costs would likely have been passed onto their customers – British road-users.

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“Now we have left the EU, the measures no longer need to be implemented, helping road-users across the country steer clear of increased premiums – a clear win for motorists in Britain.”

Mr Shapps said: “We have always disagreed with this over-the-top law that would only do one thing – hit the pockets of hard-working people up and down the country with an unnecessary hike in their car insurance.

“I am delighted to announce that we no longer need to implement it.

Scrapping this rule would save the country billions of pounds and is part of a new and prosperous future for the UK outside the EU – a future in which we set our own rules and regulations.”

The law has long been deeply unpopular in the motoring and insurances industries in the UK, which will be relieved that the Commons voted to discard it.

Graeme Trudgill, who heads up British Insurance Brokers’ Association, told The Mirror last year: “We welcomed the Government announcement back in February, but there is still no progress, and UK motorists are paying for this when they shouldn’t be.

“We urge the UK government to prioritise a change in motor insurance law.”

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