What can I say... my thoughts are with everyone out there who has already been affected by the recent devastating weather.

We've just received news that further severe weather will affect the south of England and in particular South Wales, Gloucester, Worcester and Oxford on Saturday evening. Rainfall is expected in the region of 1-2" and is expected to last for 6-9 hours.

We will bring in extra staff over this weekend as this, on top of existing high water levels, is likely to cause further wide-scale damage.

We are working really hard to respond to the massive challenge facing our customers, and below are just some of the things going on.

Since last Friday the uplift in claims volumes has been between 100-300% i.e. 6,000 claims.

What are we doing?

• Doubled the number of people on the phones taking the first claim call
• Gained access to the most recently affected areas and begun to assess the damage.
• Purchased 400 mobile homes/static caravans to aid those without living accommodation.
• 200 temporary kitchens are available - ready for families whose homes are safe to live in, but have lost the use of their kitchens.
• Providing a base for our loss adjustors and retaining a high presence in both regions as long as needed.
• A big yellow Norwich Union bus will be visiting the streets in the affected areas over the next week. The bus will act as a mobile office where your commercial and personal lines customers can make new claims, check on the progress of their claims and seek general advice. The bus will also be giving out our Flood SOS packs which include water purification tablets and a disposable camera to help customers record the damage.
• New Image Units allow us to identify and settle vehicle write-offs as quickly as possible
• Bluecycle is working with our RAC Network to manage the increase in salvaged vehicles from the flooded areas

Also...

Igal Mayer, our Chief Executive Officer and David McMillan, Customer Services Director have visited Tewkesbury in Gloucestershire to see for themselves the impact and scale of the damage caused and to understand what a great number of our customers are going through.

There's lots of good stuff going on out there, such as...

On Tuesday afternoon, our motor engineers received a call from claims to let them know that one of our motor trade customers had suffered heavy damage to their fleet of vehicles. They called the customers immediately, and arranged a visit for the next day. They met up with the customers at the premises, and despite damage to over 60 vehicles in two locations, they immediately agreed an interim payment of £200k. The payment is currently being processed by bank transfer. They also arranged for the damaged vehicles to be picked up on Saturday morning to clear the site to allow the customer to restock his vehicles.

Last but not least...

Listening to you and giving you the latest information is a priority for me and my team. If you think that there is more we can do to help you, let us know...

We will continue to keep you updated.

Regards,

John Kitson
Director
Intermediary Business
Norwich Union

Reminder of claim numbers

• 0800 01 23 45 for Household
• 0500 11 44 77 for Commercial Property
• 0800 67 89 99 for Motor

Please help us prioritise calls by deferring non-urgent calls.

For clients who've suffered serious damage to their premises, ask them to call us directly for advice on emergency repairs to protect their property from any further damage, and to get an estimate. We can approve emergency repairs up to £1,000 straightaway.

Published: 27/07/2007