There seems to be news reports every day about
the rising number of claims arising from motor accidents. From the rhetoric of
some politicians and the media it would be easy to believe that this is the
fault of victims.
Time and time again we are being told that
there is a compensation culture which is causing insurance premiums to soar.
Not surprisingly this agenda is driven by the insurance industry. Only last
week the Prime Minister said - “I am determined to tackle this damaging
compensation culture which has been pushing up premiums.’
What this means is that a victim
of a motor accident somehow feels that they are to blame if they pursue a
claim.
Try telling that to the family of
Cerys Edwards whose life was destroyed by a speeding driver –
£5m in compensation might seem like a lottery
win but in reality that will just about cover the care needs of a 6 year old
for the rest of her life. For the injury itself the most that can be awarded is
£265K. So if she lives another 40 years she will get just over £16 per day
for being paralysed from neck down.
That is the problem with all of the talk about
how much is spent on claims and how this affects premiums or the profits of
insurance companies. The plight of victims becomes buried under the avalanche
of rhetoric about a compensation culture that most commentators accept does not
exist.
There will always be a small number of fake
claims. They should be weeded out of the system by robust medical evidence and close
screening by experienced solicitors. It is another myth of this debate that
lawyers, who are not paid a penny in unsuccessful cases, are somehow
encouraging spurious cases.
