Smash and grab

IT is the numbers behind Jack Straw’s timely – and welcome – investigation into the car insurance industry that are the most bewildering and explain, in part, the staggering rise in premiums at a time when Britain’s roads have never been safer.

It costs the NHS £8m a year to treat whiplash. Yet the cost of related claims to the insurance industry now stands at a prohibitive £2bn. As the former Justice Secretary said so succinctly: “This is not a system; it’s a racket.”

It’s not just the conduct of “no win, no fee” legal firms that need to come under scrutiny after the ex-minister’s constituent, Phil Riley, was tracked down and offered the prospect of more than £3,000 if he made a claim following a minor bump two years previously that resulted in minimal damage and no injury.

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There is also Mr Straw’s allegation that insurance firms, and the police, are selling the details of potential accident victims to claims companies, conduct that is morally reprehensible and also in breach of data protection legislation.

Such a “smash and grab” approach must be given the red light, starting with the immediate outlawing of referral fees.

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