It is obvious to everyone in the road traffic accident claims business that in the last four to five years things have changed. The number of claims, whether false, exaggerated, or genuine but minor, has exploded.

So what has changed in the legal services market to cause this dramatic upsurge? There is one answer only: the creation of a whole new sector whose existence is dependent on incentivising claimants - claims management. The CMC sector justifies its existence by saying that lawyers are useless at marketing, and that is why they - CMCs - have a valuable role. Marketing. Chasing claims. Chasing claims by any means. Money. Incentives.

Perhaps if there had been a little less marketing, a little less intensity of telephone-calling, fewer data sales, less cash offered, then the Ministry of Justice would not be planning to turn solicitors into street cleaners, or charity workers. The real tragedy is the shortness of memory leading to the apparent need to legislate to address an evil of recent origin. Ten years ago, referral fees were underground but relatively nominal, and the idea of a cash incentive had not been imagined.

However, there seems to be absolutely no will to apply the standards of balance that, for instance, a judge would apply to a complex trial. Lawyers are as much to blame as CMCs, and insurers, and, let us not forget, the medico-legal industry lobby. All self-serving to the core.

Remember Claims Direct and TAG. PI firms up and down the country signed their terms despite loathing the business model, putting their own interests ahead of those of their clients. Shall I go on? Some firms are still paying the price. And now, the price is being paid, again. And the MoJ, again, thinks it is putting right a wrong. Oh dear. Plus ça change.

Legislation is not required at the assessment end. Proof is not the problem. The problem begins at the beginning - capture. But that would require reconsideration of alternative business structures, wouldn’t it? CMCs would simply be reinvented as ABSs. Even this rule-breaking government dare not stand in front of that juggernaut.

So, farewell RTA. As the Sun said: last person out, turn off the lights.

John Holtom, managing partner, Legal Solutions Partnership, Luton