MPs have demanded that personal injury compensation is curbed for victims of car crashes.
The demand came after GPs complained they waste thousands of hours dealing with personal injury claims. The MPs have called on the government to increase the payout threshold for those complaining of whiplash.
Law-abiding motorists have seen their car insurance premiums increase dramatically in recent years due to a rise in fraudulent road traffic accident claims. Louise Ellman, the chair of the transport committee, said personal injury solicitors, insurers and claims management companies where all to blame for the compensation culture that is now rife in the UK.
A recent survey by LV= showed that doctors could be wasting as much as 29,000 hours per month dealing with spurious claims. Around 60% of GPs say they are seeing an increase in the number of patients attempting to make a bogus injury claim. Furthermore, 53% say that a claims management company contacted them last year hoping to buy details of accident victims.
Six out of ten people who were involved in an RTA last year also said an accident solicitor or a claims management company had contacted them.
John Canning, the chair of the professional fees committee at the BMA, said it was unethical and unacceptable for these people to target injured patients.
According to LV=’s survey, 25% of crash victims exaggerate or fake injuries in the hope of winning compensation and 23% of them invent their injuries entirely.