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It's the same old story. A few practitioners, or a few claimants, or both, have spoiled it for the rest. I am sure 90% or so of lawyers are honest, conscientious, professional and hardworking. However, some are to put it at its highest, or should that be lowest, dodgy. Others are completely dishonest. The result is fabricated claims. There was one recently the SRA is looking into where claimants were being dug up from nowhere and prevailed upon to claim for smoke inhalation damage they had never even been to their GP about. They neither lived nor worked anywhere near the factory concerned. In a nearby city 'accidents' were being 'generated' by cars suddenly stopping for no apparent reason at a roundabout.

Insurers cannot possibly afford, or more accurately their premium payers cannot, to investigate every smallish claim. That would cost a fortune and premiums would double or treble.

So HMG abolishes whiplash claims and makes £5,000 or less claims 'small' (sic) claims. They are not if you are off work for a couple of months and have a family to feed and to house.

It was the same with the Green Form Scheme in the 1970s and 1980s. A few dodgy practitioners and their clients ruined it for everyone.

It's up to you, the honest practitioners, to do something about these practices, to report them when you come across them. If you don't, no one else will.