£1.25 in Legal Fees for every £1 in Victim Compensation?

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Councils, Hospitals & Schools Complain of £1.25 in Legal Fees for every £1 in Victim Compensation [5th Jan 2012]

A Daily Mail investigation into compensation in the UK has revealed that education bosses were forced to pay a £60,000 legal bill as part of a case of a teacher who was hurt while restraining a student. The teacher received just £500. The paper claims that this is part of a compensation culture which exists in schools and that councils are having to pay for sometimes trivial cases from teachers. It is estimated that for every £1 paid out to victims another £1.25 is paid to their lawyers who often work on a "no win, no fee" basis. However even worse cases exist including one teacher who received £13,500 after being assaulted by a pupil and whose legal bill was more than £75,000. The government has pointed out that taxpayers money is being moved away from front-line services to pay these huge legal fees and adds that this is not confined to the education sector.

A former parking warden who was sacked after he refused to hand out huge numbers of parking tickets is fighting for compensation and has the support of residents and traders who live close to his area of work. Hakim Berkani is fighting Kensington and Chelsea council parking firm NSL. He says that those parking wardens who produced the highest number of tickets were rewarded with vouchers and other "favours". Mr Berkani was sacked after he warned a driver that he was about to receive a ticket from another warden and his bosses claimed that this showed disregard for the safety and well-being of the other warden and for his managers authority. Ten local residents have given character references in Mr Berkani's support and point out that he always put the public first which in his job was his duty. NSL have said that they issue tickets using clear rules and regulations and that wardens receive no financial incentive.

Figures released this week have shown that compensation payments of more than £26 million have been paid out to people affected by the collapse of travel companies. It was found that 24 holiday companies went bust during 2011, with many of these happening during the peak season in the Summer. More than 74,000 customers needed to be repatriated or needed to be refunded for their holidays. The average compensation claim was for £353 for short-haul trips and £1,173 for long-haul. More long-haul companies have failed this year leading to higher compensation payments during 2011 compared to the previous year. Despite the large value of compensation payments it was also discovered that 8% of travellers did not receive any payments with 6,000 failing to submit compensation claims. Chris Nixon from Kelkoo Travel has commented that travel companies have been failing due to increased pressures from fuel costs, passenger duty charges and decreased spending by travellers.

144 Quantas passengers have been awarded a total compensation package of up to £250,000 in an out of court settlement after they were subjected to a terrifying ordeal in 2008. The Airbus A330 nosedived twice during a flight from Singapore to Perth with a number of passenger hitting the cabin roof or being thrown from their seats. Sixteen passengers received serious injuries and are now launching a class action in the US against Airbus themselves. Injuries suffered included psychological trauma, fractured vertebrae, broken bones and cuts. It was found that a malfunctioning computer was to blame for the incident as it gave incorrect altitude readings. At the time it was considered that interference, possibly from the laptop of a passenger, could have caused the malfunction.

Other popular articles related to this one include: No Win No Fee Law Firms, Plastic Surgery Compensation, Doctor Negligence Compensation, Hospital Compensation Claims, Personal Injury Fraud, Holiday Compensation Claims, Council Compensation Claims, and . Please let us know if you find any errors.

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