Few people have sympathy with lawyers and perhaps even fewer, rightly or wrongly have any sympathy with personal injury lawyers, so what follows, some may find to have a certain irony attached.

In a case recently published a personal injury claim business was ripped off for £9,000.00 by 2 individuals it was retaining to find and supply it with details of people who may make a personal injury claim. What happened was that the individuals, when they ran out of genuine individuals, made up fictitious date and were paid for the leads.

This fraud occurred over a short space of a month. The 2 individuals, both from South Wales, were receiving £400.00 for each lead they gave, whether or not the prospective claimants signed up to make a claim or not. They purchased SIM cards so as to be able to supply the phone numbers and made up names, so that when the fictitious individuals were contacted there was a phone number associated with a name.

The above perhaps indicates more than anything that the personal injury market is out of control, not only as regards the unscrupulous and aggressive marketing tactics adopted but the lucrative nature of the business.

What do you think ?

Below are some interesting and frankly worrying stats from a variety of sources reported in this week’s Daily Telegraph, which we summarise as follows :-

• Ski insurance claims up by 40%
• 60% of skiers without sufficient insurance
• Average medical bill for accident just under £1,500.00
• Additional skiing cover on top of general holiday insurance policy can be as little as £5.00 more per person
• Many skiers believe that they are covered by European equal medical rights, but this is inadequate in many cases
• Post Office suggest that less than 10% of experienced skiers wear a helmet
• Cover provided by ski accident insurance varies significantly. Cheaper policies may not provide adequate medical expenses cover, repatriation costs, holiday disruption due to snow conditions or loss of ski passes and equipment.