Hastings Direct announces extraordinary measures to support NHS and frontline healthcare workers

Hastings Direct is committed to supporting and servicing customers during these unprecedented times, and in particular the NHS and frontline healthcare workers and the fantastic work they do to keep us safe and help those in need.

To help the NHS and frontline healthcare workers stay on the road and to keep their cars and homes protected, Hastings Direct has now introduced additional measures with immediate effect:

Free RAC breakdown assistance (roadside, recovery and at home) on their Hastings car, van or bike insurance policy during this Coronavirus crisis period.

Courtesy car for any NHS and frontline healthcare workers with a Hastings motor policy, if their car is involved in an accident.

Priority claims service to make sure that if NHS and frontline healthcare workers are involved in an accident, vehicle repairs will be prioritised through our approved network.

Priority customer service across our phone lines if they need to make policy changes or updates or register a claim.

A request to all Hastings staff to ‘go the extra mile’ for NHS and frontline healthcare workers wherever possible.

CEO commitment. Any NHS or frontline healthcare worker still experiencing difficulties with our service can email tobiasvandermeer@hastingsdirect.com directly.

Helping our volunteers

Hastings recognises many members of the general public have stepped up to help the most vulnerable in our society during these difficult times. To help those people who have a policy with Hastings, volunteers using their vehicles for community support will be automatically covered. Hastings will also temporarily waive the amendment fee for the volunteer policyholders who want to add or remove drivers from their policy, or change their level of cover because of the Coronavirus outbreak.

Hastings Chief Executive Officer, Toby van der Meer said,

“We’re committed to supporting all our customers through the Coronavirus pandemic and recognise the extraordinary role played by our NHS and frontline healthcare workers who continue to go the extra mile for us, putting others before themselves particularly at this challenging time. On behalf of everyone at Hastings, I wanted to say a massive thank you to all our dedicated NHS and frontline healthcare workers, and volunteers, out there.”

Please note that these additional COVID-19 measures are no longer available but please visit our website for more information about our products and to get a quote.

To share this news, customers will be notified through messages on our website and via email. For further details on these additional services read our Coronavirus FAQs.

NOTE TO EDITORS

Protecting colleagues and customers through the Coronavirus pandemic

Hastings is committed to protecting and supporting colleagues, customers and the wider community during the Coronavirus pandemic. By keeping customers safely on the road, in particular NHS and frontline healthcare workers who need their vehicles to get to and from work, and being available to service any claims they may unfortunately have. We have also taken wider customer actions to include additional support for customers impacted by the coronavirus with financial difficulties and waiving some of our normal fees.

The welfare of colleagues is paramount and Hastings has taken many steps to ensure their safety. Any colleagues who can work from home are doing so including vulnerable colleagues, those who are pregnant, and those that are self-isolating. Hastings has also significantly reduced the number of colleagues in its offices and are working at pace to deploy homeworking telephony solutions to all customer support colleagues. In the meantime Hastings has taken many measures to make the office environment as safe as possible for colleagues, including appropriate distancing between desks, increased cleaning schedules, free takeaway food and hot drinks from our colleague canteen, and importantly advising colleagues to observe social distancing at all times.