unclebuck

Apparently a million pounds a *day* (of Council Tax payers' money) is being paid out in compensation - for tripping over on pavements!!! In Manchester no less than *one third* of the entire roads budget gets spent in this way. This is plainly ridiculous IMO. Most of these claims are bogus anyway.

Why can't people just be told to watch where they're going and to go away when they try it on. Better still, why can't *they* be prosecuted for attempted fraud? That would soon put a stop to it.

UB

milo

i know.. they should have to PAY stupidity tax for falling over in the first place... NOT be rewarded for it.

damn i think i may have hurt my finger writing this message. how much compensation to i get?

Reffro

The other thing I was shocked about and this says more to me about the underlying problem. Manchestser city councils entire road repair budget was Ł6m. I'm no expert, but Manchester is a fairly big town and this sounds like a recipe for poor/no maintenance of value for the roads and pavements. They only have themselves to blame for the 10% of claims against them, that are paid out.

ajm

This situation is indeed a disgrace. All it takes is common sense to spot which ones are taking the p!ss. Then they should be prosecuted for purgery and obtaining money by deception. The punishment should be to pay off the time wasted considering their case in the first place. If they can'd afford that then they should be made to work to pay it off. Time to rub some salt in the leeches sucking the country dry!

Leslie

I agree with ajm and the others. This compensation mentality is born of greed and total lack of honesty and responsibility. The lawyers are also as much to blame for encouraging it for their own selfish purposes.

Les

ian_sadler

A few years ago my Gran (75) tripped on a broken paving stone and cracked her knee cap and agrovated her hip complaint.

If the council had looked after the pavement in the first place there wouldn't have been a problem.

Yes we went for some compo. but it in no way covered the years of pain she suffered as a result.

mj

Bit quick to bite there Ian, they're not saying compo should not be paid out, more is the case that the greedy chavscum fraudster cases should more closely looked at.

It stinks, and its costing us a fortune

tiggers

And do you know why this has happened? Becuase Thatcher's government made everyone think that greed is good and that stepping on others to get where they want to get is a good thing even if it is dishonest. Most of you probably won't believe me, but mark my words for history will ultimately remember Thatcher for the damage she did to the social fabric of this country.

tiggers.

ajm

I'm really sorry for your Gran, a similar thing happened to my Gran and its awful, but old people are more likely to take a tumble, and they are more likely to be injured when they do tumble.

In the case of my Gran she blamed herself for not looking where she was stepping, although she could probably have had a legitimate claim should she have wanted to.

As mj said above, we are out to get the scum of this society making fraudulent claims like Brendan Fearon et al, we are not out to get your gran!

ajm

where did all that waffle come from!?

MJW

Speaking to my insurance broker recently after he told me my public/employers liability insurance premium was going to triple this year, we were discussing the 'blame culture' and its effects.
As well as the huge increase in claimants, I think we must also look to the underhand dealings of the lawyers involved in these cases and in particular the ridiculous fees they charge. Many claimants get only a small percentage of their actual claims.

Also worthy of note is the methods these 'ambulance-chaser' lawyers use to persuade people to make claims : while visiting a hospital emergency department a while back I noticed a clipboard-wielding suit-n-tie-guy asking people on the way out how they had the accident, did they have it at work and would they be interested in using their services ! I've also read instances of workplace accident books being sold to lawyers so they can chase people up and persuade them to make a claim.

What people who make B/S claims don't realise is that while they may get a two grand payout, the additional insurance premiums on virtually every industry will eventually filter down making products and services much more expensive thereby negating their paltry payouts.

I don't deny that there are people out there who have accidents that are genuinely entitled to compensation, but the constant milking of the system by fast-buck lawyers and ******* faking a limp will make it increasingly difficult for them in the future.

Clarebabes

What about the US? They've had this ambulance chasing attitude for longerthan we've had. What about the woman who sued her boss for looking at her ****!?

ProperCharlie

MJW - spot on IMO. At the rate things are going, EL&PL insurance costs will put many firms out of business. Even vehicle insurance is affected by the tendancy for TPs to now sling something in for personal injury on top of a new bumper - "whiplash induced back or neck pain", can't be proved, any doctor will write you a script for it. New accident books now have the rip out bit with the person's details on, to prevent these being passed on to the NWNF mob. I was pleased when the insurers decided to stand up to some of the NWNF crowd, with the resulting collapse of accident group or whatever they were called.

Spoon

But he was mastúrbating at the time.

Jiggerypokery

The last time I fell over, all I got was a piece of chocolate cake. The pain of my grazed knee was a distant memory after that.

Leslie

Well said Tiggers

Les

T.C

As someone who works in the personal injury legal profession, perhaps I can add my two pennorth?

It is unfortunate that going back a few years ago when the likes of Claims Direct and the Accident Group set up, many ficticious claims were processed as they were paid a commision for each and every claim they sent through. Now some law firms put all their eggs in the CD and TAG basket, and instead of vetting each and every case before accepting it, they got processed on a conveyor belt and the whole profession got dragged down and tarred with the same brush.

As a result of some poor dealings, TAG and CD have now gone bust, but many solicitors firms are also struggling because they had all their eggs in the one basket and were reliant on this work, and because they had a poor reputation, they are now struggling to redeem themselves in the market place. I saw a report last week, where it is claimed that small to medium sized law firms who have a PI group have suffered something like a 60% drop in new cases over the past 12 months, and many are now closing for good.

In our case, we cherry pick by and large, and we deal with the high value, difficult and complex cases which other firms don't want or are not qualified to take on, so we go for quality rather than quantity which has sustained us over the past few years.

However, it doesn't help that these accident management firms were unregulated, so by and large there has been no come back other than seeing them go to the wall, which is small consolation for those who are now seriously out of pocket.

If a case is screened properly, if a proper risk assessment is carried out, and the claim is worth a genuine Ł1,000 or more, then there should be no issue claiming against someone who is negligent resulting in injury being caused. The case has to be worth Ł1,000 in order that legal costs can be claimed.

The pointI am making is that under the old TAG and CD type schemes, all of us in the personal injury law profession got tagged as Ambulance chasers, and whilst I would concede that there are such firms out there, things are changing and will have to change, but it takes time.

The important thing to remember is that you will not become rich making a personal injury claim as the values are all capped.

As far as the original point made is concerned, whether a claim can be made against the local authority is all dependant on the schedule of inspection that each LA must have in place, and the hole has to be a minimum of 1 inch deep for a claim to even be considered. However, there also has to be a significant risk of danger, and if the inspection schedule shows that all reaonable steps were taken to make good the hole, or their actions had been wholly reasonable, or they had simply done as much as was reasonably practicable, then the claim is bound to fail unless they make a payment as a goodwill gesture which in 99% of cases is unlikely.

milo

and?

CLSII

There is no such thing as an accident anymore.

You hit your thumb with a hammer and you sue the maker of the hammer cos there is no warning on it telling you not to...sounds stupid but fast food giants have to put warnings on their cups that their coffee is hot.

Solicitors think this is great. Oh how we laughed as our society went to hell in a handcart.....