New law to tackle fake insurance claims backed by MP Jack Straw

JACK Straw has welcomed the prospect of new laws to ‘weed out’ false motor insurance claims, but said more needs to be done.

The Blackburn MP has spearheaded a campaign to overhaul the industry, due to rocketing premium costs and because companies are selling clients’ details to personal injury firms.

This week ministers have hosted a motor insurance summit in London, where measures to take on the compensation culture have been discussed.

Justice Secretary Ken Clarke launched a consultation on setting up an independent panel to assess whiplash claims, which have soared to more than 1,500 a day.

He will consult on raising the threshold for small personal claims from £1,000 to £5,000 to encourage people to go through this fast-track process rather than pursuing more costly legal routes.

A law to stop the selling of personal details to injury firms has already been passed.

Mr Straw said: “This is good progress, but we’ve got to go further. I’m glad the Government are listening to concerns I’ve raised after speaking to Blackburn constituents, but there needs to be a change in the law too.

“Case law in England and Wales makes it too easy to establish liability in whiplash claims. The courts cannot now put this right, only Parliament can.

“We must change the law so that the presumption is that low-velocity rear-end collisions do not result in claimable injuries.”

A study by the AA said whiplash injury claims cost insurers more than £2billion last year, adding around £90 to the cost of a typical car insurance policy.

Comments(14)

GIBUCK says...
9:17am Thu 3 May 12

Yeah and which members of the community are experts in these scam insurance claims.....Blackburn is the countries capital for whiplash claims but in fairness there are others that make whiplash claims for basically no injury and no damage to the vehicle leaving the thrid party to suffer the consequences of raised insurance renewal and additional costs for all other drivers.......scumba
gs, take take, take

happycyclist says...
9:38am Thu 3 May 12

Too little, too late, Straw.

Like Steve Kean, you do nothing but show contempt for the people of Blackburn and treat them like fools.

Mill62 says...
10:34am Thu 3 May 12

These claimers are your supporters, Black Jack.

nil bye mouth says...
10:36am Thu 3 May 12

In todays sun an article involving a bus deliberatly crashed into and the occupants of the bus all making claims i would put my life savings on it being asians.

did you smash it? says...
10:39am Thu 3 May 12

Apparently the wailing from Brierfield at this news registered on the Richter Scale

Your ferret stinks says...
12:36pm Thu 3 May 12

Too little, too late once again!
Everyone who can claim has claimed two or three times so it's the end of the road anyway!
Don't expect any well dones from here Jack!

woolywords says...
12:44pm Thu 3 May 12

Are we going to get cold calls, annoyed in the street, by ppl that have no proper jobs...
Have you had an accident in the last 5 years..
NO
Ever been in an accident, where it wasn't you fault?
NO
Have you been mis-sold insurance?
NO
Want to buy SKY?
NO
Have you ever believed in Jack Straw?
YES
Then you can claim, on a no-win, no-fee basis, using our online claim form..you do have internet, don't you?
As a special, just for voting days, we are doing a deal..
Lib/Lab pacts, with added Con/Dem features, and, since you sign up right now, you get free Bamboozled.

ignore the fine print, you may be able to make a claim later.

Sign here..
There..
And my disclaimer that you weren't pressured into signing.

Let's check your form..
have the rights to your Mothers DNA..
the far end of a ****, what it smelled like..
your right to life.
your actual ethnic origins..
not Scots, Welsh or Irish, ever.
just utterly English..
QED, with no rights whatsoever.

Wait a mo, while a do a check,
from that dubious website,
that knows frig all, about naff all.

You passed all our checks!

Welcome to the UK..
just change your name at college, so that your voters won't know your real name.
Jack Straw is already taken, Watt Tyler has been hung,
Nde Dbe Sithole died, during a newsreaders week off..
Try something ethnic..

Best of luck to you.

ps.
Steve Kean is already awaiting hanging.
as is Desai, Venky and chicken.

woolywords says...
12:57pm Thu 3 May 12

if I were minded to do it, which I'm not.
I could sell rubber chickens, that were hung on cheap string, that fans could dangle..

~Oh..the libel laws, the downright slander of it.

Am not that Kean on doing this.

timeforcommonsense says...
1:08pm Thu 3 May 12

We all know where the 99% of false claims come from but we are forced to endure it because speaking out is being racist. I have heard of situations where there hasn't even been an impact they simply claim an accident where there are no CCTV cameras and then one of their cousins, who is the examining doctor, coaches people on the sort of injuries they must pretend to have. The government has no idea the extent of this problem. There should be a law that says no insurance claim without a police report, showing that the police have attended and investigated the alledged accident and anyone found guilty of being involved in such fraud should recieve a minimum 5 year sentence and be flagged on all insurance systems so that they pay through the nose and not us. Any doctor involved should be struck off the medical register for life. Of course we know the government will never go far enough.

woolywords says...
1:25pm Thu 3 May 12

well to see that Jack is not going to stand next time, as I wrote, years ago, when nobody would listen..
his flaying attempts, like a drowning man, at engendering a kindred spirit, are at best, worth watching, in the years of those that died that died in the Titanic disaster.
Jack, my old lad, when you were at college, read Keir Hardy, and that infamous fake, the Zenioviev letter, you followed, like a sheep.
Still believing that you, in your own right, could make a difference, to a common man.

Let's do the math, you are now rich, those you that were at school with you, are now where?

When you beggar off, as you surely will, remember to give a few tickets, for free, to those that were deluded enough to vote for you, on your lecture tour. The sweaty muslims will look good for you, as you expound a theory of how you made the World a safer place for me.
Throw in the bit, where you had to sleep on AF1, as your British protection team were left to rough it..
You had Condaleza's bed..

forget us that had your back, Jack
not worth a mention.

philmoulden says...
2:00pm Thu 3 May 12

did you smash it? wrote:
Apparently the wailing from Brierfield at this news registered on the Richter Scale
also in whally range ,,,and pune

Lifeinthemix says...
4:21pm Thu 3 May 12

didn't think you had time for such jack wi the lap dancing and torture charges.....

dianeakala says...
5:02pm Thu 3 May 12

I am sorry but its not a race thing, I know people from different races who are all getting in on the scam. I have 4 nieces (all white and christian) who all claimed whiplash, after a minor car accident (the door was dented) who have never paid insurance, they attend physiotherapy every week, WHY? Were they hurt? No. But they all know they are in for a big payday an for only one hours work (physiotherapy) a week.

slongio says...
6:29pm Fri 4 May 12

GIBUCK wrote:
Yeah and which members of the community are experts in these scam insurance claims.....Blackburn is the countries capital for whiplash claims but in fairness there are others that make whiplash claims for basically no injury and no damage to the vehicle leaving the thrid party to suffer the consequences of raised insurance renewal and additional costs for all other drivers.......scumba

gs, take take, take
There's a difference between being involved in a smash and putting in a claim when your not exactly injured and then intentionally going out to cause a crash in which you can make an easy claim against some innocent road user! We all know who the main culprits are, that's why Blackburn is the nations capital for whiplash claims!

click2find

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