I sat through a series of traffic jams today on a drive from Liverpool to Leeds that took three hours. I saw the aftermath of three accidents. I'm sure that some injured parties will be bringing claims. And from what I saw they will be genuine.
I am not attending
the APIL Conference this year although I have been a Member and Fellow for many
years. They are probably the most effective lobby for those who represent
victims of accidents and famously took out a judicial review action to oppose
the cuts imposed by the coalition government in 2013 –
APIL and
its members fight for justice for genuine victims.
One person
who is at the Conference is Lord Faulks – a justice minister. He is a QC who
once worked for claimants in clinical negligence cases. I once instructed him! He
is the one who has described litigation as an optional exercise and suggested that
those who provided welfare rights advice earned £200 an hour –
Lord Faulks
has spoken at the APIL conference today and confirmed that the government is determined
to raise the small claims limit – thus excluding most victims of recoverable
legal costs. He has also confirmed that the right to compensation to any
damages for whiplash is to be abolished altogether. This bizarre idea came from
George Osborne last November and will take our legal system into new territory
by excluding a physical injury from damages –
Faulks has
repeated the same old justification today –
‘It is not right that people who try to cheat the system
should get away with it and, in doing so, force up the price of motor insurance
for other motorists,’
So again, we have a leading politician shamelessly giving
the impression that all victims of whiplash are criminals. In fact, only 0.25%
of motor accident claims are fraudulent. Now that is 0.25% too many. But it is certainly
not a basis to attack the remaining 99.75% of claimants.
He admitted that he did not know what has
happened to any savings to the insurance industry since the 2013 cuts. He seems
to be alone in his belief that drivers will one day reap the benefits by way of
a reduction in premiums. The reality is that an increase is far more likely. This
is partly to increase the profits of insurers and partly due to the increase in
IPT announced by the chancellor last year –
This speech would be laughable if the issues were not so
serious. Does Lord Faulks seriously expect a room of experienced lawyers to buy
this nonsense?
What is clear is that a clear and coordinated campaign is
going to be needed to protect victims from these increasingly damaging
proposals.
