Whiplash scams & the UK's failure to prosecute

Truly_Wracked_Off

The British news media (including The Times, The Independent and The Guardian) has repeatedly berated the UK (with regard to extensive whiplash claims) describing this country as follows:
....the whiplash capital of Europe.....the world leader in fake whiplash injuries where cheats seem to be prospering.... and a peculiarly UK disease, accounting for 80% of car incident injury claims compared to just 3% in France.

This means that every insured motorist foots the bill for these scammers. Why? How is this allowed to continue? How come UK insurance companies are allowed to get away with it? They don't in France, so what's different there?

Whiplash's great appeal is that it's difficult to either prove or deny, therefore making it easy to obtain medical support - but they somehow manage it in France!

There must surely be a way to challenge questionable medical support that results from medics having to suck up whatever nonsense a scammer provides with little or no evidence to substantiate their claim.

If there's anyone out there who knows of any website etc that might provide a window into this scandal, throwing some light onto the subject, I'd love to hear from you.

Sincerely, T.W.Off :mad:

wgl2014

AIUI the no win no fee arrangement is a very British thing which I guess will cover a lot of the claims that are made.

I see the problem being that it's cheaper to pay out than fight an iffy claim.

waamo

Professor Ken Oliphant reckons the evidence that the UK is the whiplash capital is "very flimsy" and does not bear up to close scrutiny.

Professor Oliphant said the data actually showed that Italy had nearly 50% more whiplash claims in the period surveyed than the UK and paid out more than twice as much in compensation too.

Warwick_Hunt

On problem is nothing is done about the law firms who set up call centres then illegal tout for business. Then then hook people in by lying and saying money has been set aside for your injuries. If it all goes pear shaped they can then walk away and leave to client to face the music.

AdrianC

Slow news day? Just dust off one of the usual scandals, guaranteed to inflame your target audience.

2008 - http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/insurance/motorinsurance/3459940/Britain-faces-whiplash-epidemic.html

2011 - http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/insurance/motorinsurance/8522985/UK-whiplash-capital-of-Europe.html

2013 - http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/insurance/10185382/Why-Britain-is-the-whiplash-capital-of-Europe.html

Oh, hold on. They must have forgotten this...
2016 - http://www.telegraph.co.uk/cars/road-safety/britain-gets-tough-on-whiplash-claims/

But feel sorry for the lawyers!
2017 - http://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2017/01/23/whiplash-crackdown-could-cost-35000-jobs-lawyers-claim/

Next up: the Daily Express's "Princess Diana/weather/cancer" monomania, followed by the Daily Mail's fixation on... well, just about everything.

Robisere

And the Express's fascination with "Cures for Everything"

facade

I thought we were changing the system so that people could only claim the actual cost of treatment?

On a related subject I saw a "Shock Horror Scam Fiddle!" TV programme recently about the new trend of claiming back the cost of your holiday because you allegedly got the trots, (by simply having the receipt for some immodium bought on holiday), and on the way to work the radio was advertising "sickonholidaydotcom" or something to help people make that claim.

We really ought to stop Ambulance chasers and compo seekers advertising on TV & radio, most people can use a search engine if they actually have a genuine case.