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Commenting here as a non lawyer but someone who has claimed compensation for whiplash about seven years ago. This may be long-winded but it shows the whole accident claiming industry is a sham and a racket in which I, regretfully, have been complicit. I still feel guilty about it now.

I was in my Focus and was rear ended by another car whilst my wife was with me in the passenger seat. It was a hefty shunt and left the car written off with chasis damage. I felt fine, my wife felt fine and we called our broker to make a claim for the car. We didn't need a replacement car as my wife had one and she was off on maternity at the time.

Our broker put us through to the 'claims department' who insisted we took another car as under their terms we were entitled. We didn't even discuss injury but 2 days later we both received a letter from a solicitor with an agreement to sign to claim for injuries sustained. We called them and said we didn't want to, the solicitor forwarded our call back to our brokers 'claims department'. They told us it was standard procedure and that we should commence with the solicitor now as if injuries developed later we might not be able to and, in any event, a medical would be performed to determine whether we were injured and the claim would be stopped without charge if we were not .

Went to the medical a few months later still feeling fine and it lasted 5 minutes. The doctor just confirmed what happened in the accident. As he didn't ask about injuries I assumed that would be the end. However, we both received letters from the solicitor saying the doctor had confirmed we both had whiplash and would suffer for the next 18 months. I was amazed.

We tried to cancel the claims, saying there had been a mistake and were told we would have to pay fees as the claims had a good chance of winning and there was no reason to cancel. With a new baby and my wife only receiving maternity pay, we felt we had no option but to proceed both fearing we would be thrown in jail.

Alas no, within a month we both had a cheque for an amount not far short of £3,000.

Months later, I also received a statement to sign about me needing a replacement 5 door car after the accident as I had no access to another. That was completely untrue. This apparent replacement vehicle I was 'entitled to' was actually a hire car and the other insurers were refusing to pay hire charges of £80 per day. I'm not surprised as it did nothing but sat on my drive for four weeks. I was told that I may be responsible for paying for the hire if I did not assist them claiming back the money as per the agreement that I signed.

Turns out, my brokers 'claims department' were actually the an accident company. I fear that my story is very typical of a large number of people who have made claims of this type.