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This is an absolutely classic case of the profession (as was) or industry (as is) having killed the goose that laid the golden egg.

When I qualified 35 years ago and for many years after that PI work was just another branch of litigation, albeit the less glamorous end. PI lawyers were generally not tremendously well paid but were for the most part dedicated professionals, often working alongside trade unions.

But then came the golden bullet of CFA's, and the whole thing began to sink into a disgusting cesspit of corruption, where it's remained ever since. This was the advent of claims managers, crash for cash, solicitors owning medical agencies and credit hire companies, bent doctors, bent engineers, etc, etc.

And don't preach to me that this was just a minority. In places like Manchester and other big cities this corruption rapidly became the norm.

You all know just how ridiculously easy it was to print money during the 2000's, and let's face it we all jumped on the gravy train and gorged on it. Hence the sole practitioners making millions of pounds a year by employing unqualified fee-earners grossing £250k each.

I was right in the midst of it all, and I was just as happy to screw the stupid and lazy insurance companies as anyone.

I only gave up when it became impossible to run a PI practice without buying the work in, something I’d never done or would ever do, but as clear an indicator as one could want of the easy money that was on offer.

How glad I am that I got out all those years ago.

So I'm afraid the PI industry has only itself to blame, though it was created by the most monumentally stupid legislation ever, namely the introduction of the CFA.

And don't expect to get any sympathy at all. The list of people who stand to lose their jobs - " lawyers, insurers, claims management companies and medical reporting agencies" - is like a roll call of thieves for most lay people. You may as well expect them to sympathise with burglars when a new prison takes away their job opportunities.

The comparison with steel workers is absurd. At least they did an honest day's work, producing something of real value, whereas the PI industry has morphed into a fat parasite on the body of society. So a plea to keep jobs that are, for the most part, achieving little of benefit to anyone except themselves is likely to fall on rather deaf ears, and rightly so.

I would hasten to add that I am talking about the majority of the PI industry here. I fully recognise that there are still traces of the original high quality profession left that do an excellent job where complex and serious injuries are involved. But they probably represent no more than 10% or so, and will survive anyway.

I also recognise that many younger people who are now in the industry may be innocent victims, having missed out on the golden years, and I do feel sorry for them, having been suckered into a doomed industry. But like the craft printers of 30 years ago the industry's greed and selfishness has finally brought about its own demise.