Hastings Direct announces significant expansion plans

Hastings Direct has pledged to pilot three new stores in the coming months. If the pilot is successful, it is planned to open up a number of branches in the near future. It is expected that some of these branches will be franchise operated.

Neil Utley, Hastings Direct's chairman, said: "I am hugely excited by the opportunity to build the best multichannel insurance broker in the UK, where our customers can deal with us face to face in our branches, on the phone or over the internet. They make the