David welcomes referral fees victory
Bradford East MP David Ward has welcomed today's announcement that referral fees on personal injury claims are to be banned as the beginning of the fight back against high car insurance premiums.
The announcement by the Justice Minister, Jonathan Djanogly, will mean that personal injury lawyers are no longer able to pay fees for the details of people involved in road traffic accidents.
Research on high insurance premiums in Bradford carried out by David Ward MP found that referral fees had been a key factor in pushing up premiums, leading to motorists being pressurised into making spurious or exaggerated personal injury claims.
Commenting, David Ward said:
"This is excellent news. I asked the prime minister to take this step back July, and I am delighted that the Government have responded to pressure from Bradford residents, and others, who were calling on referral fees to be banned.
"These fees clearly added nothing positive to the system and were driving up the number of spurious and opportunistic claims, the cost of which has been passed on to ordinary, law-abiding motorists through higher premiums.
"This is a good first step toward lower car insurance premiums, but more still needs to be done. Lawyers wouldn't have been willing to pay £800 referral fees unless they were making big profits out of personal injury claims. We need to look at getting these legal costs down, and also making it harder to make fraudulent claims."
David Ward MP's question to the Prime Minister on referral fees can be read here: http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201011/cmhansrd/cm110713/debtext/110713-0001.htm#11071354001672
David Ward MP's report into high premiums in Bradford which recommends that referral fees be banned can be downloaded here:
http://www.davidward.org.uk/en/document/interim-car-insurance-report.pdf