Sir,

Car insurers lined the pockets of their shareholders to the tune of millions of pounds during all the years people with life-changing injuries went under-compensated. Following changes to the so-called Ogden rate, that injustice has now been corrected - and  insurers have immediately rushed to increase premiums for all hard-pressed motorists.

The level at which premiums are set is not the responsibility of catastrophically injured people or their representatives. It is the responsibility of the insurance industry which, of course, has a duty to its shareholders. It is also important to remember that the need to pay compensation only arises because someone has inflicted needless injuries on someone else, through their own negligence.

People must be able to receive proper compensation when they have been catastrophically injured. That is the whole point of compulsory car insurance. The mechanism for making sure this happens had not worked for many years, leaving people either to struggle without the help they needed or to rely on the State – and by definition the taxpayer – to pick up the tab. It needed to change.

Brett Dixon

President

APIL