Scams, claims and compensation games. No win no fee

[pooka]

Anyone else watching and thinking FFS!

I really really don't get why people cannot accept that (within reason) accidents happen. There's that bloody awful ad with Don Beach from The Bill where he says "an injury is when you are hurt by something or someone" when actually, no, I can quite easily injure myself by tripping over my feet!

To sue a school for a stubbed toe?

Or for falling over when running in a mother's sports day race?

the narration shouldn't keep calling it a 'stubbed' toe when it's a broken toe though.

I am getting really annoyed by this. It's just an accident. Get over it. Instead our council tax is being wasted on paying out in some of these ridiculous claims.

Why is the shaving incident worthy of suing?

me but i didn't want to start a thread!

has the world gone fecking mad???!!! i do wonder sometimes? and

That bloke is sueing for what looks like a hardley noticable scar on his cheek, when he already has a much worse scar on his chin fgs.

that's exactly what i said to dp mrsm

I am going to have to turn off - am getting too irate - stupid bastards ffs. And someone punch that smug solicitor git in the gob.

Point taken badgardener. Yes, was a broken toe.

Still at the emotional distress referred to. Not being able to play with his mates for "a week... no weeks" as the mum put it.

What bugs me is the short-sightedness of the people claiming. The fact that in claiming, events will be cancelled in the future (like the parents day race), schools and other bodies will have less money. Insurance premiums go up. And so on. The school looks just like dd's as well.

It just seems wrong to me.

Crimewatch - that's better.

I'm all for suing when a profit-making company has been negligent, because they have to be held to account. But suing when the money is coming out of public funds, and when it is merely an accident, and when you just want compo as a way of making money (as opposed to if you have, say, been disabled and need money to live on) - yup, it's morally wrong.

Am really fuming, so think will stop watching.

I think something else that gets me is the pettiness of it. I think that to claim emotional distress for a broken toe received while playing football at school makes a mockery of real suffering.

[harkens back to the good old days when people just got on with things and didn't rub hands together when they had accidents at the prospect of easy cash}

I wonder if one factor behind it (not justification, but perhaps a reason) is public organisations behaving like the public are enemies rather than the people they are meant to be serving - eg councils fining people for putting rubbish in the wrong bin.

I wondered about that with the old man who had fallen - so angry that the Council didn't rring him back that he was easy target for the no win no fee-ers.

But I suspect that Councils have become much less quick to apologise having been inundated with chancy claims.

I dunno.

Turned it off. Couldn't stand it any longer!

"But I suspect that Councils have become much less quick to apologise having been inundated with chancy claims."

yes I bet that is spot-on.

I misheard and thought that shaving guy's scar was awful - until I realised it wasn't the noticeable one on his chin! You can't really see the other one with that big chin scar.

As for the toe-stubbing parents, they should be ashamed of themselves. What has that taught their son? Never mind if you haven't any art supplies or books to read next year son, we got our greedy pants money. Wonderful attitude folks.

My dts has a deep scar beside his eye from a fall he had at IKEA. Did I think "accident, daft boy won't do that again" or "money, money, MONEY!"? Accidents happen, these people are vultures.

"when I get the money, I'm going to spend it on a car" .... how much does he think he's going to get?!!

Can somebody tell me how the boy broke his toe. I thought that family came across as awful - reckon they will have lost a few friends through that. Serve them right greedy gets.

playing football in school playground, caught toe in drain which was an inch lower than rest of playground surface.

I was really disturbed by all that tree stuff. Trees are natural and hence unpredictable and there are a lot of them. Particularly in a wood.... Why should it be down to the council to ensure they're all safe? Why can't it just be a risk we have to accept if we go to a park?

Cant believe it was playing football in a playground ffs. That is worse than I thought. My dds school path is really rough and a bit difficult to negotiate in places. We were talking in the playground this a.m. and joking that they will have to divert funds having watched this programme, from books to mending the path!! Perhaps they really will! When we were at school we used to have a really rough and ready playground and field. Accidents happen - when will people wake up to that. The tree stuff really disturbed me too, but I know our local council has started removing trees from parks etc as they had one too many claims from them and cant afford the huge numbers of staff required to check every tree annually. All that happens when people make these ridiculous claims is that things get removed and life (and parks!!) become sterile. Our local park (in our village) had to remove the play frame as somebody fell and claimed - they didnt win as the safety checks had been done and were up to date, but it scared the parish council so they took it away. Sad. A lot of people claim round here - two people in my small village both got their new cars through claims against the hospital.

And its a recognised excellent hospital too - off the record I heard that the hospital settles a lot without fighting cases as it is easier. I personally dont think either of the people I know very well, had reasonable cases against the hospital and am annoyed the hospital didnt fight.

I'm ex insurance and you wouldnt believe some of the claims I have dealt with.

A couple of memorable ones are a chap who fell over in a car park - we subsequently learned he had downed more than a dozen whiskeys beforehand.

Another one was a parent who was suing a company; her boy had been playing on a roof despite obvious signage saying keep out, etc, and the roof fell in. Fortunately he wasnt hurt other than some bruising but you would have thought she would have been more embarrassed about the fact that her son was trespassing.

Some of you might have seen my thread a while ago about the guy who is suing my dh. The guy failed to wait at a "no waiting grid" and when dh turned right he sped up and hit him. DH asked at the time if they were okay and they said yes but now are suing for whiplash and spinal injuries (despite the fact the report says they have never seen a GP or been to hospital for it).

No win no fee lawyers have alot to answer for.

I had a funny experience the other day. Was walking through the local shopping mall when accosted by card-waving promoter who called out something I didn't catch, so I gave the usual indistint grunt that means "no I don't want to help you with your market research/join your religious sect/insure my non-existing car with you". He answered rather huffily "oh all right, have a nice day, madam", then I caught sight of his poster advertising Accident and Injuries Solicitors- and then finally I realised what he'd said: "What have you done to your finger, madam?". (I snapped a tendon packing a suitcase before Xmas).

Poor bloke, he'd obviously been stood there all day fobbed off by all these relentlessly happy and intact people...and then a genuinely injured person comes along...oph, I feel quite bad about it now

Who do you reckon I could sue? The maker of the suitcase? Dh who knitted the jumper I was trying to force into it? Or the airline who were enticing me into this dangerous situation?

Sue all three, Cory!