APIL calls for understanding

Former Justice Secretary Jack Straw has come under fire from personal injury lawyers and medical experts for describing car crash whiplash as a "profitable invention of the human imagination".

Startlingly, and in direct contradiction of the UK's injury compensation experts, Straw expressed his view that car crash whiplash claims should cost personal injury lawyers no more than £100 to settle.

Deborah Evans from the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers responded by saying that "in all cases the solicitor needs to talk to the client to understand the symptoms, and the impact of the injury on the client's life, as well as obtaining a medical report".

She added, "These were the factors taken into account when fixed costs for road traffic accidents were agreed with the insurance industry only last year."

However, Straw invited further controversy when he said car crash whiplash was "undiagnosable except by third rate doctors in the pay of the claims management companies and the personal injury lawyers".