A campaign was launched today to crack down on bogus personal injury claims which have added millions to the cost of insurance for the honest.
It is aimed at re-educating the public to claim legitimately. Lawyers say dubious practices blight the entire field.
The campaign features a website with YouTube clips for people to guess what constitutes a justifiable claim.
A list of fake cases has been compiled to show why reform is needed. It includes:
A road accident claimant not in the car at the time, a crash caused by a claimant waving to a man he hit with his vehicle the previous week and a man whose 13th personal injury claim failed to disclose the previous 12.
A London car gang was jailed last year after making £3 million of false claims. A court heard they caused accidents and would batter vehicles with baseball bats in a bid to enhance payouts.
Solicitor John Spencer, at the forefront of the campaign, said he was particularly angered by the use of referral fees - the sale of accident victim information by insurers to solicitors.
"Aggressive marketing has led certain people to think they can claim for anything," he said. "This, plus insurers' willingness to settle before claims are assessed, has seen the PI system become devalued and dysfunctional."
