With reference to your recent article on road-traffic accidents (see [2006] Gazette, 9 November, 22), substantial savings in both time and costs in personal injury cases can be achieved without undermining the rights of injured people.


While the small-claims court may well be a quicker process, it is a process suited to claims for a faulty fridge or minor dispute. It is not the right platform for injured people to stand alone and fight their corner against insured defendants.



The Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL) has said many times that increasing the limit may well suit the insurance industry, but injured claimants will be backed into a corner.



Rather than more accident victims issuing their own proceedings, as your article states, research has proved that faced with a choice, many claimants would go uncompensated, rather than enter the small-claims court unrepresented.



Building on the success of the pre-action protocols is the way forward. APIL supports simple, immediate notification of claims to insurers, and binding pre-action admissions of liability would ensure claimants are not vulnerable to the whim of the insurer.



Early admissions of liability from insurers will cut costs and delays - considering 63% of defendants fail to admit liability within the pre-action protocol period, these savings could be substantial.



Richard Langton, APIL president, Nottingham