A SENIOR solicitor at an East Lancs firm has been struck off after failing to tell two clients their motor accident claims had failed.

One woman was left facing bailiffs on her doorstep over unpaid legal fees, a fitness to practice hearing for the Solicitors Disciplinary tribunal was told.

Lesley Wilkinson, who handled her case for Burnley firm Smith Jones, had failed during several phone conversations and e-mail exchanges, over a two-year period to tell the client her case had been struck out in March 2017.

The hearing was told this left the claimant, referred to as Mrs LB, facing costs of £8,390, payable to insurance giant Aviva.

But Mrs Wilkinson, who had instructed counsel to attend court when the matters were struck out, repeatedly told Mrs LB she was investigating the matter.

Another related case involving the same accident, concerning a second client, named as Mrs JH, ended in a similar fashion, the hearing was told. An appeal was lodged that April but was not processed by the court amid an apparent failure to resolve a query over fees.

Her proceedings were struck out at Burnley County Court and she was ordered to pay Aviva and Tesco Underwriting £8,276.

The SDT panel heard Mrs JH made a telephone enquiry regarding her case in July 2017 and Mrs Wilkinson said she knew "nothing as of yet".

In her own defence, Mrs Wilkinson said the case had occurred at a time when she was facing a number of pressures in her personal and professional life.

The firm had been working on a large caseload involving gastric illnesses and there were matters "more pressing for my attention", she added.

She told the SDT panel she had "panicked" when contacted by Mrs LB and had tried to "buy some time to try and sort matters out".

The firm, Smith Jones, said Mrs Wilkinson was a senior solicitor and her work would have been supervised by the owners but her claims would have mostly been undertaken on an "electronic, paperless basis".

Later the firm had made payments to Mrs LB and Mrs JH for the sums owed, plus interest, as well as compensation of £3,500, the hearing was told.

Mrs Wilkinson, who was given a final written warning by the firm at the time, admitted to all allegations. She was struck off and ordered to pay £5,000 costs.

In a ruling, the SDT panel chairman Ms A B Banks said: "This a case of repeated dishonesty over a period of at least three years. She knowingly misled her clients."