I had just brought my first car but it had to be insured.  I was advised to go to Stockwell Road London, where there was an insurance broker.  When I applied to insure the car I was told I would have to pay £52.00 per year fully comprehensive, which meant a pound a week.  I thought that was the price anyone would pay so I paid.  My Morris 6 car was a new make of car and not many had been produced, they were like the Wolsey 100/10.  The Wolsey was the car the police used at the time the only difference from the Morris was that it had a bull-nose. 

About four weeks after I had arranged my insurance I met someone with the same car he was very intrigued.  After we began talking about the car I asked him how much he had paid for his insurance, when he told me he paid £8.00 per year fully comprehensive I was shocked.  I immediately returned to the insurance company to find out why my premium was so high. 

I was told I had to pay more for the following reasons, I was coloured, I was a foreigner and foreigners are excitable and get into trouble, I did not learn to drive in this country so I did not know the rules and regulations, because I was coloured people would deliberately damage my car, so I had to be insured against that, also I was under 23 years of age. 

What he did not know was that I learned to drive in London and passed my test first time in Norbury.  I protested, but was told there was nothing I could do I had to pay the full amount if I wanted to drive the car.

I was not satisfied so I went to see Marcus Lipton the MP for Brixton.  When I told him the circumstances he was shocked at the difference in the amount I had been charged.  He contacted the Insurance company and found they had a policy that applied only to black people.

A question was raised in Parliament and a new law was passed banning this practice. 

All people should be charged alike where insurance was concerned.  I was pleased I was the first West Indian to take up such a matter with a Member of Parliament. Something had been done to pave the way for equality and justice for all black drivers.