Direct Line to pay £30m to overcharged car and home insurance customers

Company breached rules that state existing policyholders should not be charged more than new ones

Direct Line will pay about 30m to customers who were charged more than they should have been to renew car and home insurance policies.

The UK's second biggest car insurer, which in June launched a review into motor insurance claims over the last five years after an investigation into the market by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), said it discovered the overcharging problem after the incorrect implementation of the new pricing practice regulation that came into force in January last year.