Illegitimate Whiplash Compensation Claims are sending car insurance premiums rocketing. England and Wales now has the highest number of personal injury claims for the whole of Western Europe. Experts estimate there are more than 1,500 such claims every day.
Lee Robinson, clinical director of a private physiotherapy clinic in Wakefield, was involved in a minor car collision in 2009 after reversing into a stationary taxi at traffic lights.
He was shocked 7 months later to receive a claim for repairs worth £800, and a whiplash compensation claim for £2,000 when it appeared to be no more than a minor impact on the cab’s bumper. The claimant’s medical report claimed that he had suffered whiplash injuries, including severe neck, shoulder and back pain.
Mr Robinson told the court that he regularly treated whiplash-associated injuries and contested the claimant’s alleged injuries during the hearing at Dewsbury County Court.
He said: ‘I knew that the impact could have been 5mph at most, and that can’t give you the severe whiplash he was claiming.’
Lee Robinson was advised by his insurance company, Blue Fin, to settle the claim and pay the damages. But luckily for Physio Lee, the presiding judge acknowledged Mr Robinson’s skills and knowledge as a physiotherapist and threw the case out of court for fraudulent claims.
He has won what he believes is a landmark case that will lead to more whiplash compensation claims being challenged in courts.
