Insurers identify riskiest places to live

An insurance company has drawn up a league table of the safest and the most dangerous streets to live in Britain. Kim Sengupta examines the risk factor involved in a postcode.

Living on the right or wrong side of the track is not merely a matter of social cachet. It can, according to a firm of insurers, affect the way you live from your health to your wallet.

Prospero Direct, part of Axa Global, the world's second biggest insurance conglomerate, used 19 different assessment criteria ranging across volume of claims, age, sex, marital status and crime statistics to deduce what the highest and lowest risk streets across the country.

Altogether, more than 250,000 home and motor insurance policies were analysed by insurance manager Peter Longstaff and Mike Brockman, from English Matthews Brockman, one of the leading actuary firms in the UK.

Streets in Aberdeen, Wincanton, Exeter and Ipswich have very low risk, while others in London, Liverpool, Glasgow, and Manchester are among the highest. Risk is assessed on the likelihood of a claim being made and its predicted size.

Mr Longstaff said : "We tried to make our study as detailed as possible. Certain general factors were quite evident - older people tend to claim less, primarily because they are more careful, and young unmarrieds tend to make the most claims.

Prospero's safest streets with the lowest risks, not ranked, are: Newburgh Road, Aberdeen; Mapperton, Wincanton, Somerset; Felleview Drive, Egremont, Cumbria; Davies Close, Silverton, Exeter; Burnham Close, Ipswich; Abbey Court, Denbigh; Hubbard Close, Buckingham; Larson Road, Upper Heyford, Oxfordshire; Bellmans Grove, Peterborough; Hawkesmore Drive, Stafford.

The least safe streets, again not in ranked order, are: Myddleton Road, London N22; Nitshale Road, Glasgow; Wenlock Road, Edgeware, London; Ford Lane, Liverpool; Scotland Road, Liverpool; St George's Avenue, Manchester; Bradgate Close, Manchester; Monday Crescent, Newcastle; Dormers Rise, Southall, London.