Sir

Stephen Hester is deluded in his claims about the influence of lawyers (Compensation culture is ‘fault of lawyers’, The Times, June 12).

The agenda of big business has been the driving force behind reform after reform to the personal injury claims sector, in a bid to make claiming fair compensation for genuine personal injury a thing of the past. 

Meanwhile, the insurance industry completely misrepresents the dwindling number and falling cost of personal injury claims, creating a cynical smokescreen for rising car insurance premiums.

All personal injury claims have to be registered with the Department of Work and Pensions and in the last six years the number of whiplash claims registered has fallen by 41 per cent. Even if whiplash statistics are combined with the number of injuries registered by insurers as ‘neck and back’ injuries, there has been a significant fall of 11 per cent since 2011.

People suffering from genuine whiplash claims, caused by the negligence of other drivers, have for far too long been made scapegoats by the insurance industry for rising car insurance premiums. The insurance industry is aiming its guns at the wrong target.

Brett Dixon
President
Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL)

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Notes to editors:

• APIL (Association of Personal Injury Lawyers) is a not-for-profit organisation whose members are dedicated to campaigning for improvements in the law to help people who are injured or become ill through no fault of their own.
• For more information contact APIL's press and communications officers Jane Hartwell on t: 0115 943 5416, m: 07808 768623, e: [email protected], or Lizzy Freeman t: 0115 943 5431, e: [email protected].
• Visit the association's website at www.apil.org.uk.
• • Follow @APIL on Twitter: www.twitter.com/APIL.