Hammersmith MP Joins Call for Ban on Injury Compensation Calls

---

Andy Slaughter pushing for more cold calling restrictions

Andy Slaughter MP for Hammersmith

Hammersmith MP Andy Slaughter has accused the Government of ‘pulling punches’ on the issue of cold calling while calling for a ban on injury compensation calls and texts.

Six out of every 10 adults in London received a call or text about making a personal injury claim in the last year, new research has revealed amid nationwide calls for a ban.

With 37.5 million calls and texts received, Londoners are being inundated the most when compared to other areas of the UK.

“I remember trying to persuade the Coalition Government to ban cold calling during the passage of the LASPO Act ten years ago, and many times since,” said Mr Slaughter.

“I did not understand then, and do not now, why the Conservatives always pull their punches on this issue. Cold calling is severely irritating at best, but to many elderly and vulnerable people it is worrying and intimidating. Successive Tory-led governments have been more enamoured of pleasing the insurance industry by reining in claimants, however meritorious, than dealing with the parasitic cold-call industry. A total ban on cold calling is long overdue,” he said.

“It’s now been three years since the Government’s introduction of measures to curb the practice, which we warned at the time would not work,” said Mike Benner, chief executive of the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL) which commissioned the research by YouGov*.

“Injury calls and texts have still been the biggest cause of complaints to the Information Commissioner’s Office in the last three years – and each year by a considerable margin,” he said.

Ninety-three per cent of UK adults think there should be a total ban on calls and texts about personal injury compensation claims. The figure rises to 97 per cent among the 29 million UK adults who received such a call or text in the last year.

Mr Benner for APIL went on: “Nine out of ten people feel annoyed, angry, anxious, disgusted, or upset when they receive a call or text about making a claim for compensation for an injury. It is no surprise with such strong emotional responses, that the people of this country want this practice to end.

“It generates the false perception that obtaining compensation is easy, even when there is no injury. It brings an often very serious issue – needless injury and the need for redress - into disrepute,” Mr Benner explained.

“Solicitors are banned from cold calling for personal injury claims and we fully support this. Unfortunately, claims management companies are still free to contact people provided they have given consent. Both plain common sense and this research tell us that no-one will agree to be called about a personal injury claim.

“An opportunity was missed to impose a proper ban on these tasteless and intrusive calls and texts, but it still could be put right”.

Like Reading Articles Like This? Help Us Produce More This site remains committed to providing local community news and public interest journalism. Articles such as the one above are integral to what we do. We aim to feature as much as possible on local societies, charities based in the area, fundraising efforts by residents, community-based initiatives and even helping people find missing pets. We've always done that and won't be changing, in fact we'd like to do more. However, the readership that these stories generates is often below that needed to cover the cost of producing them. Our financial resources are limited and the local media environment is intensely competitive so there is a constraint on what we can do. We are therefore asking our readers to consider offering financial support to these efforts. Any money given will help support community and public interest news and the expansion of our coverage in this area. A suggested monthly payment is £8 but we would be grateful for any amount for instance if you think this site offers the equivalent value of a subscription to a daily printed newspaper you may wish to consider £20 per month. If neither of these amounts is suitable for you then contact info@neighbournet.com and we can set up an alternative. All payments are made through a secure web site. One-off donations are also appreciated. Choose The Amount You Wish To Contribute. If you do support us in this way we'd be interested to hear what kind of articles you would like to see more of on the site – send your suggestions to the editor. For businesses we offer the chance to be a corporate sponsor of community content on the site. For £30 plus VAT per month you will be the designated sponsor of at least one article a month with your logo appearing if supplied. If there is a specific community group or initiative you'd like to support we can make sure your sponsorship is featured on related content for a one off payment of £50 plus VAT. All payments are made through a secure web site.

 

September 24, 2021