Women drivers face €750 insurance hike

WOMEN drivers could be facing a €750-a-year rise in premiums after MEPs backed plans to ban sex discrimination in the car insurance industry.

The controversial European Commission (EC) proposals would force insurance companies to apply "gender neutrality" preventing them from using statistics such as driving records, life expectancy and other basic criteria when giving insurance quotes.

If approved by EU governments, the move would be the first EU legislation to tackle sex discrimination outside the workplace.