Sir,

Whiplash injury motor claims cost the insurance industry £536 million less in 2016 than in 2013, yet insurers continue to blame whiplash injuries for the high price of premiums. Inflated reports from insurers about the strength of British necks are based on the flimsiest of evidence. In reality, Government figures show that the number of claims has plummeted by 41 per cent since 2010.

The tiny minority of bogus claims must be stopped, of course, but genuinely injured honest people should not be caught in the crossfire.

Calls and texts about personal injury claims are exploitative, tasteless, and intrusive. Solicitors are already banned from making cold calls and sending nuisance text messages, and rightly so. But claims management companies are not banned from calling people to drum up business. It brings the whole sector into disrepute and generates the false and damaging perception that making a compensation claim is easy, even if there is no injury. A complete ban needs to be enforced.

Brett Dixon
President
Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL)

-ends-

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.