Chris Holmes needs to wake up and smell the coffee (see [2007] Gazette, 15 March, 16). Of course the introduction of the predictable fees regime for road traffic accident cases is the cause of an increase in issued claims. I am a claimant solicitor - I should know.


When I was an articled clerk, we were paid, win or lose, and a small claim (arbitration as we called it then) was anything under £350. As a result, I was taught only to issue as a last resort. Well, times have changed and sadly we have to change with them. If the insurance companies and the supermarkets are going to lobby to get the regime they want, then we are going to have to learn play the offside rule or go to the wall.



Issuing claims is not now the last resort and the reason is that it simply does not pay to delay anymore. The profession should stop whining about the insurance companies and learn to beat them at their own game. With call centres in India and backlogs of post sometimes counted in months rather than days, some insurance companies are not as efficient as they think they are. Beating them to the punch can occasionally be like falling off a log.



Peter Quegan, Southport