Announcing the Premier Award winners at the 2003 Prince Michael International Road Safety Awards ceremony at The Savoy in London today, Prince Michael of Kent said: “Customers now demand better crash protection and the NCAP star rating system is widely understood – it is used by car companies to market their products and is undoubtedly an important factor in customer's choice of new cars.

”There is no doubt that we now have safer cars and it is widely accepted that the New Car Assessment Programme has made a major contribution to car safety design and to raising awareness amongst the public. It is for this reason that I am delighted to present this year's Premier Award to EURO NCAP.”

Acknowledging the importance of safety design, the Prince added: “The contribution of the motor industry especially in design terms has been most significant. To think that we now have cars with nine airbags as standard when only six or seven years ago a driver's airbag was often only an optional extra. The development of better braking systems and stability control has been revolutionary. There is little doubt that most companies place safety high on their design priorities, yet much of this work goes un-acknowledged – it is under the bonnet so not seen”