Met Police rakes in £5m for passing crash details to CMCs

Police are earning millions of pounds by passing on crash details to claims management companies (CMCs), lawyers and insurers, according to new research.

The Metropolitan Police has received more than £5m since 2009 for sharing accident victims’ details in exchange for a fee.

A study by LV= also revealed the Hampshire force earnt more than £480,000 since 2010 and Fife Constabulary made almost £200,000.

Former home secretary Jack Straw, who has campaigned against the use of referral fees, told The Telegraph: “It is completely unacceptable that the police and public services are selling data in this way”.

Hospital visits

The research by LV= also claims one in 20 (6%) of accident victims are contacted by claims companies or lawyers – sometimes within hours of accidents.

Some claims management companies send someone to the scene of the accident, and others to the hospital where victims are being treated and set up information desks in patient waiting rooms.

One in four (24%) claimants said they would not have claimed compensation had a third party not pressured them.

Of those who made a claim, almost half (48%) say they were pressured to do so by a CMCs or legal firm specialising in personal injury, with a further one in five (20%) reporting a police officer encouraged them to claim compensation.

LV= general insurance managing director John O’Roarke said: “The heavy-handed tactics of the ‘claims farming’ industry has resulted in record levels of compensation claims for whiplash and other personal injuries – despite falling accident rates.

“Crash victims are being aggressively targeted by those who can make money out of their details and they are hounding them to make a claim within moments of an accident. Those tempted to make a claim when they do not have an injury should think again as making a fraudulent claim could lead to a hefty fine or prison sentence.”

Referral ban

Legislation due to be implemented in April will ban the payment and receipt of referral fees in personal injury cases and will cap lawyers’ fees on successful claims.

LV= said this pending legislation has prompted a whiplash ‘gold rush’ and claims companies are now hounding people regardless of whether they have been injured.

It added that almost a third (29%) of those who made a claim admitted they exaggerated their injury to receive compensation and a further one in 10 (10%) said they made up the injury to obtain the money.