Cameron: I will chase payments for riot victims

 
Craig Woodhouse22 March 2012
WEST END FINAL

Get our award-winning daily news email featuring exclusive stories, opinion and expert analysis

I would like to be emailed about offers, event and updates from Evening Standard. Read our privacy notice.

David Cameron has vowed to “chase up” compensation which has not been paid to riot victims seven months after violence in London.

Under pressure from Labour, the Prime Minister admitted that it was “not good enough” that only half of uninsured people who made claims under the Riot Damages Act had got their money.

Ed Miliband raised the issue in the Commons after Scotland Yard’s review into the riots showed that only 181 of the 342 claims by the uninsured had been settled. The overall picture is much worse — the Standard revealed last month that almost nine out of 10 victims were still waiting for compensation, sparking accusations that Mr Cameron had forgotten them.

Rioters caused £370  million of damage after police shot dead Mark Duggan in Tottenham Hale on August 4. During Prime Minister’s Questions, Mr Cameron pointed to other funds put in place by the Government to help alongside the Riot Damages Act, which dates back to 1886.

But challenged by Labour leader Mr Miliband that the payout rates were “simply not good enough”, Mr Cameron admitted: “I do agree. There have been problems under the Riot Damages Act. It’s right in a way to have this piece of legislation, although it is quite out of date. It does take time to make those payments and I’ll certainly do what I can to chase them up.”

He also pledged to look into the case of Ealing Green shopkeeper Amrit Kuhrmy and her husband Ravi, whose supermarket was razed to the ground during violence on August 8 but who are struggling to make ends meet as they seek compensation.

Boris Johnson has written to Home Secretary Theresa May. He said: “Businesses affected by the riots need and deserve compensation asap.”

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in

MORE ABOUT