ASA Adjudication on stayontheroad.com Ltd

Ad

A national press ad, for www.stayontheroad.com, promoted an insurance policy that reimbursed customers for the cost of alternative transport should they be banned from driving. The ad included the claims “Over the next twelve months it is estimated that a staggering two million of us will accumulate extra licence points. With the inevitable increase in short, mid and long term driving bans many people’s livelihoods will be put at risk – as well as the burden soon to be placed upon families and dependants … The government has plans for a major expansion of camera surveillance”.

Issue

The complainant objected that:

1. the ad was misleading because it exaggerated the likelihood of drivers losing their licences and

2. there was no substantiation for the claim "The government has plans for a major expansion of camera surveillance".

CAP Code (Edition 11)

Response

StayOnTheRoad said they had obtained advice from the CAP Copy Advice team before publication and had complied with the only change requested by labelling their article 'advertisement' in accordance with Clause 23.2 of the CAP Code. They sent extracts from newspaper articles and press releases about research carried out by Swiftcover and Directline insurance;  they believed those clearly showed that over two million people would receive points on their licence over the next twelve months and that the government had plans for a major expansion of camera surveillance.

Assessment

1. Not upheld

The ASA noted StayOnTheRoad had obtained advice from CAP before publishing the ad and had followed that advice.  We noted StayOnTheRoad had sent evidence which cited a survey by Datamonitor that showed that over 2.2 million motorists received speeding convictions each year.  We also noted the press release by Directline insurance said that close to one million UK drivers were one conviction away from losing their licence.  We considered that StayOnTheRoad had substantiated that two million motorists received speeding convictions each year and that many of these people might be close to losing their licence.  Readers would be aware of how many points they currently had on their licence and would be able to assess for themselves the likelihood of their being close to losing their licence.  We concluded that the ad was unlikely to mislead.

On this point, we investigated the ad under CAP Code clauses 3.1 (Substantiation) and 7.1 (Truthfulness) but did not find it in breach.

2. Not upheld

We noted from the evidence provided that, in December 2005, the government  announced a new central fund for road safety of £110m a year to begin in 2007/2008, exceeding the £93m currently spent by safety camera partnerships.  We noted the Transport Secretary announced " ... I want cameras to be linked more closely to wider road safety.   That is why I am increasing the amount of money available for spending on road safety, giving them a new fund of £110 million. In some places cameras will still be the solution, and can be funded through this money. In other places there will be alternative solutions". We also noted that, in March 2006, the Department of Transport gave permission for more than 200 new speed cameras.  We considered that, although the extent of the expansion was unknown, StayOnTheRoad had adequately substantiated the claim.

On this point, we investigated the ad under CAP Code clauses 3.1 (Substantiation) and 7.1 (Truthfulness) but did not find it in breach.

Action

No further action required.

Adjudication of the ASA Council (Non-broadcast)