Mark explains – “I’ve been campaigning to ban referral fees for a long time and I’m very pleased to see government backing for this. At Lampkins, we’ve grown our business through recommendations from our clients and not through the practice of purchasing cases from insurance companies. Our focus has been on providing the very best service and representation for our clients. The news from the goverment’s Transport Select Committee today is very welcome and I’m also glad to see a push towards raising the threshold for receiving compensation in whiplash cases which is something else I’ve strongly advocated”.

The BBC News have published a full article on spiralling whiplash claims.

Click play to hear Mark explain the proposed changes.

For a long time the government have been concerned at the inexorable rise in insurance premiums and the adverse effect this has on the economy and compliance with driving laws. People are more likely to drive uninsured if the risk of capture is outweighed by the price of insurance. To suppress claims and reduce costs various schemes have been trialled for example just allowing lawyers to claim controlled and fixed costs for road traffic accidents.

Claimant lawyers representing the injured masses have got on with any system imposed and lived with ever reducing income.

Lawyers have had to pay out unnecessary and disgraceful referral fees to claims companies, insurers, some unions, recovery drivers and even the police just to get cases: a scandal that needs to be sorted out.

Worse still we have all been bombarded by spurious texts offering thousands for the accident we never had and all this has riled those in power and others such as Jack Straw who, although supposedly a man of the people seems to be pandering to the profits of bulldogs and meerkats by doing all he can to reduce the cost of claims to insurers.

Some of his efforts are well placed, particularly forcing a ban on referral fees being paid to unscrupulous companies who do no more than buy and sell accident victims details for filthy lucre. Those chasing ambulances are not lawyers but interfering and unnecessary middlemen so by all means remove their cost from the system and from our premiums.

But the devil is always in the detail and now surely things have gone too far with the proposals in the Motor Insurance Regulation Bill now put before parliament that amount to a severe and unmerited attack on the rights of innocent people injured through the fault of other drivers. The future is particularly bleak for bikers.

Road accidents are avoidable, but inevitable, and as population grows so does congestion and risk of collision. Anyone who has been in a RTA knows even a minor bump can cause costly damage and severe pain and disruption for weeks for which presently they are rightly compensated. The new proposals will only allow whiplash claims to be made where there is “objective evidence of injury” so pestering your GP or busy A&E will be essential. Just taking paracetomol and getting on with it will mean losing the right to claim for your pain. The brave will lose out, period.

More controversial however is the proposal to make all injured claimants have to prove that the relative impact speed of the two vehicles was greater than 15 miles an hour, an almost impossible task that could only be proved by engineering calculations that would defeat NASA.

There you are sitting at traffic lights and hit from behind. You sustain painful whiplash that gets initially worse, interrupts your work and pleasure and gives you a miserable few weeks or months. You will only be able to be compensated if you wait four hours in hospital to be inordinately embarrassed when you waste the valuable time of an overworked Doctor who can only tell you to take painkillers, or you take the lottery of securing a Doctor’s appointment for the same outcome. You must also be able to engage the services of either Mystic Meg, (is she still going?) to divine the speed of the other vehicle or call Professor Brian Cox and his large hadron collider mates and have them pause their search for the origin of life and calculate from bent metal and skid marks an impact speed of greater than fifteen miles an hour.
But hang on think about it. The proposed law says this: There shall be a rebuttable presumption that no harm or injury to the claimant has been suffered where…….the collision giving rise to the accident took place at a relative speed of 15 miles per hour or less.

Where in all this is there mention of bikers? It can perhaps be envisaged that the impact between two cars at low speed may not cause injury to the seated, belted and airbagged driver but due to pure physics the effect felt by an exposed rider is obviously massively more forceful.

We must gather now to lobby not only for this to be stopped but at the very least for riders to be excluded.

This draconian and ill thought out proposal will clog up the courts whilst good reputable lawyers try to protect the rights of genuine injured vulnerable honest riders. If they don’t succeed then bad drivers will be free to set cruise control to 14 and play Demolition Derby with gay abandon safe in the knowledge that their insurers will not face a claim for pain.

There will be those who have never had whiplash and think it as real as the man with the white beard presently polishing his sleigh. But it does exist, and for those of us who have had it, it is painful and disruptive and in a civilised society we should compensate those who suffer. We should not be looking at saving a few quid for the shareholders of massive insurance companies at the cost of our pain. How dare the government say or propose under any circumstances that it is now going to be fine to injure voters a little?

Where will it end? Will it be fine to allow employees to fall off unguarded scaffolding so long as it’s just one, two or three metres high? Will it be fine for that kebab to give you food poisoning but not e-coli? Will it be ok for that asbestos to give you chronic pulmonary disease but not mesothelioma? Will it be ok for that defective birth procedure to leave a scar on your child’s face but not brain damage?
Just remember, it could be you.

Under new proposals aimed at reducing the amount paid out by insurers for personal injury claims, the Government plans to prevent whiplash claims being pursued where the impact speed is less than 15 miles an hour. Mark Lampkin, a Chester based personal injury lawyer who also appears on Chester’s Dee 106.3 Radio as the “Legal Eagle” analyses the new proposals.

Click play to hear Mark explain the proposed changes.

For a long time the government have been concerned at the inexorable rise in insurance premiums and the adverse effect this has on the economy and compliance with driving laws. People are more likely to drive uninsured if the risk of capture is outweighed by the price of insurance. To suppress claims and reduce costs various schemes have been trialled for example just allowing lawyers to claim controlled and fixed costs.

Claimant lawyers representing the injured masses have got on with any system imposed and lived with ever reducing income.

Lawyers have had to pay out unnecessary and disgraceful referral fees to claims companies, insurers, some unions, recovery drivers and even the police just to get cases: a scandal that needs to be sorted out.
Worse still we have all been bombarded by spurious texts offering thousands for the accident we never had and all this has riled those in power and others such as Jack Straw who, although supposedly a man of the people seems to be pandering to the profits of bulldogs and meerkats by doing all he can to reduce the cost of claims to insurers.

Some of his efforts are well placed, particularly forcing a ban on referral fees being paid to unscrupulous companies who do no more than buy and sell accident victims details for filthy lucre. Those chasing ambulances are not lawyers but interfering and unnecessary middlemen so by all means remove their cost from the system and from our premiums.

But the devil is always in the detail and now surely things have gone too far with the proposals in the Motor Insurance Regulation Bill now put before parliament that amount to a severe and unmerited attack on the rights of innocent people injured through the fault of other drivers.
Road accidents are avoidable, but inevitable, and as population grows so does congestion and risk of collision. Anyone who has been in a RTA knows even a minor bump can cause costly damage and severe pain and disruption for weeks for which presently they are rightly compensated. The new proposals will only allow whiplash claims to be made where there is “objective evidence of injury” so pestering your GP or busy A&E will be essential. Just taking paracetomol and getting on with it will mean losing the right to claim for your pain. The brave will lose out, period.

More controversial however is the proposal to make all injured claimants have to prove that the relative impact speed of the two vehicles was greater than 15 miles an hour, an almost impossible task that could only be proved by engineering calculations that would defeat NASA.

There you are sitting at traffic lights and hit from behind. You sustain painful whiplash that gets initially worse, interrupts your work and pleasure and gives you a miserable few weeks or months. You will only be able to be compensated if you wait four hours in hospital to be inordinately embarrassed when you waste the valuable time of an overworked Doctor who can only tell you to take painkillers, or you take the lottery of securing a Doctor’s appointment for the same outcome. You must also be able to engage the services of either Mystic Meg, (is she still going?) to divine the speed of the other vehicle or call Professor Brian Cox and his large hadron collider mates and have them pause their search for the origin of life and calculate from bent metal and skid marks an impact speed of greater than fifteen miles an hour.
This draconian and ill thought out proposal will clog up the courts whilst good reputable lawyers try to protect the rights of genuine injured vulnerable honest people. If they don’t succeed then bad drivers will be free to set cruise control to 14 and play Demolition Derby with gay abandon safe in the knowledge that their insurers will not face a claim for pain.

There will be those who have never had whiplash and think it as real as the man with the white beard presently polishing his sleigh. But it does exist, and for those of us who have had it, it is painful and disruptive and in a civilised society we should compensate those who suffer. We should not be looking at saving a few quid for the shareholders of massive insurance companies at the cost of our pain. How dare the government say or propose under any circumstances that it is now going to be fine to injure voters a little?

Where will it end? Will it be fine to allow employees to fall off unguarded scaffolding so long as it’s just one, two or three metres high? Will it be fine for that kebab to give you food poisoning but not e-coli? Will it be ok for that asbestos to give you chronic pulmonary disease but not mesothelioma? Will it be ok for that defective birth procedure to leave a scar on your child’s face but not brain damage?
Just remember, it could be you.

Mark Lampkin has been campaigning for years to stop the trade of data that is bought and sold in the Personal Injury Industry.

In Summer 2011, Jack Straw highlighted the issue of data being sold by claims companies, insurance companies, even some sections of the emergency services to solicitors who are willing to pay many hundreds of pounds.

Read more about Mark’s Campaign to BAN the sale of personal injury cases.

NORTH WALES SOLICITORS CAMPAIGN TO BAN THE SALE OF PERSONAL INJURY CASES VINDICATED BY TOP POLITICIANS

Leading local personal injury solicitor Mark Lampkin of Lampkin & Co Solicitors based in Ewloe, North Wales expresses his delight at the breaking news that top level politicians are to join his campaign to ban referral fees being paid to purchase personal injury cases from insurers, unions, garages and now even the police!

“For the last 6 years I have been campaigning for this evil trade in personal injury cases to be banned”, explained Mark whose practice has become a local success story.

Politicians such as Jack Straw and Paul Nuttall, UKIP MEP for the North West have joined the campaign to ban companies selling details of personal injury accident victims to lawyers. Mark Lampkin explains that referral fees have now reached epic proportions up to £900.00 per case. Here’s what commonly happens step by step following a road traffic accident:

1. Accident happens, police attend. Police have referral systems with local recovery drivers who will pay “a back hander” and will receive “a back hander” from recovery firms for giving them the call.

2. Sometimes the police but often the recovery driver and/or the receiving car repair garage will immediately kick into action an attempt to sell the claim to a claims management company or solicitor prepared to pay.

3. Innocent driver rings his insurance company who also try to sell his claim to solicitors or claims management companies.

4. Innocent driver gets pestered by calls from at least four sources all trying to get details of the claim and receive a referral fee from solicitors.

5. A credit hire company may become involved if the vehicle is off the road and try to get a vehicle used by the innocent driver often at exorbitant rates that are added to the claim.

6. This week Jack Straw MP became aware of the truth that insurance companies themselves are selling client’s details to solicitors for up to £900.00 a time. Insurance companies are then hypocritically moaning about the increasing costs of personal injury claims when they themselves are adding these referral fees to the costs spread amongst the insurers.

Mark Lampkin further explains “All we as personal injury lawyers want to do is represent clients we do not want to pay massive fees to undeserving companies, insurers and even unions to obtain details. This money just gets added on to premiums and is completely unnecessary we should be just left to do our job and should be made illegal for these fees to be charged”.

Recent Government reports have suggested that over 90% of personal injury cases land on a solicitor’s desk having been bought and paid for. MPs are now becoming aware that this back handed payment of sleazy cash payments for cases now goes all the way to the top. Even trade unions obtain referral fees for their member’s cases. Mark Lampkin states “This is absolutely abhorrent. Union members who pay their fees for many years expect some of these fees to be used to pay for legal representation should they need it. Unions members are now shocked in their hour of need that their unions are merely trying to make a few pounds out of them and I suspect that once the investigations are carried out these referral fees may not have made their way into proper union funds and I urge the Government to investigate fully how referral fees have been received by unions, insurers, the police and garages etc”.

The tide now certainly seems to be turning with Axa Insurance having been exposed as one of the major players in receiving referral fees now saying that they will stop this practice immediately. With continuing press coverage even exposing police forces for selling on claims it seems only a matter of time that the personal injury world will be cleaned up. “I am absolutely delighted” enthused Mark Lampkin. I have long been campaigning that referral fees just turn what is an honourable profession into a seedy practice. All I have been asking for years is that good quality personal injury solicitors should have a level playing field where they can attract clients based on their skill and reputation and not by how much money they are prepared to pay in brown envelopes to undeserving parties.

Mark Lampkin Solicitor is owner of Lampkin & Co Solicitors a specialist personal injury practice and is available for comment on 01244 525725 or mobile 07590 534607. Mark is a Deputy District Judge and also appears on local radio in Chester presenting the “Legal Eagle” hour.

Mark Lampkin of local accident claim solicitors Lampkin & Co has further shown his commitment to the area by announcing a major sponsorship of Buckley Boxing Club. The boxing club based in Buckley has been in existence for 101 years. The club’s ethos is to take boys from all and often troubled backgrounds and to make men of them.

The club is presently run by a team of volunteers headed by Mark Field who by day is a paramedic and has running the club for the last 17 years. Mark dedicates endless hours and won over Mark Lampkin of Lampkin & Co Solicitors to secure the sponsorship deal following a recent visit.

Mark Lampkin stated “As soon as I walked into the club I could see from the looks on the boys faces how much it means to them”. Mark Field told me some of the stories of boys that had been to the club having been bullied, abused or let down by those around them. The club soon instilled a level of discipline and enjoyment of sport in the boys often turning their lives around and getting them back on track. I couldn’t resist helping in any way I could”.

Following his visit Lampkin & Co Accident Solicitors contributed £1,000.00 as an emergency fund to provide a new ring for the boys new premises based on the Drury Industrial Estate in Buckley. The club have moved to new premises which have been renovated by volunteers and now provides a more permanent home for the club. Local firm GEM Discounts also based on Drury Industrial Estate contributed to the ‘Buy the Ring Fund’ showing their commitment to their new neighbours.

Pictured is Mark Lampkin handing over the cheque for £1,000.00 to Jim Williams, Club Secretary.

The new Buckley Boys Boxing Club is open on Drury Industrial Estate with new state of the art facilities and a new purpose built boxing ring. All boys are welcome.

Lampkin & Co have pledged continuing assistance by confirming that for any local client whose accident case claim they take on and who expresses agreement Lampkin & Co will donate £100.00 to the club funds for each such claim. So if you or anyone you know has had an accident and wishes to make a claim you can help raise £100.00 as a donation to club funds.

Mark Lampkin owner of Lampkin & Co Accident Claim Solicitors based in Ewloe is available for comment on 01244 525725 or mobile 07590 534607.

“Thanks for all your hard work”.

Mr P Folwell

Our clients benefit from our years of experience in dealing with quite often complicated accident claim cases. If you would like to talk to us about your accident at work or injuries sustained in a road traffic accident, please contact us on 08081 782110.

“Just a little thank you to you and all who worked on my claim. It was smooth, no hassle and I was kept up to date on everything. Thank you”.

Mrs K Defrond – Deeside.

If you would like to discuss any aspect of making a personal injury claim, please contact us for free, no obligation advice on 08081 782110.

“Fantastic solicitors, fantastic handling of my claim from start to finish, really lovely down to earth staff who are friendly and efficient, would definitely use again and recommend all dag long – thanks Lampkin and Co”

Mrs D Brown.

‘I would have no hesitation on recommending you in the future, all your team have been extremely professional. I have to say that the friendly manner in which I have been approached and how I was listened to and advised with honesty was greatly appreciated.’

Mrs Pryce
Surrey