Accident Line heads for TV

PERSONAL INJURY: referral service takes fight to Claims Direct

Accident Line, the personal injury service sponsored by the Law Society, will challenge claims management companies' market dominance when it relaunches in October with a 2.5 million marketing campaign.

Accident Line was set up in 1994 to promote personal injury lawyers to the public.

The relaunch - to be carried out by scheme's administrator Abbey Legal Protection - will see it reinvent itself as a referral service to lawyers.

Chris Ward, managing director of Abbey, said the service was designed to allow consumers to deal directly with lawyers, rather than through intermediaries.

He added: 'If that is interpreted as taking on claims management companies head on, then yes, that is our policy.'

The 2,250 solicitors who subscribe to the old scheme will be invited to join the relaunched scheme.

Abbey will invest 2.5 million in a television and media campaign designed to put Accident Line at the forefront of personal injury claims referrals.

Claims management companies such as Claims Direct already advertise on television, and Hertfordshire personal injury law firm Underwoods is currently advertising on Anglia Television.

Accident Line intends to levy referral fees of 50 per case referred, regardless of whether lawyers pursue cases.

Andrew Tilsiter, a partner at Middlesex firm Harold Benjamin, said: 'If this system is to work, members should be able to accept or reject the referral before a fee is incurred.'

Mr Ward said he was confident that the fee would be regarded as good value by members, adding that Accident Line's vetting process 'will provide them with a valuable flow of claimants with valid and potentially successful claims'.

Jeremy Fleming