I read with sadness the letter from Rob Barley.

I work for a small practice which mainly deals with personal injury claims. I have in the past month received at least five calls to my firm’s telephone number asking me if I am sure I have not been injured in the last three years. I have also received such calls on my mobile. It has never crossed my mind that such calls are commissioned or approved by genuine personal injury lawyers. I find Mr Barley’s readiness to jump on the PI lawyer-bashing bandwagon very sad and distressing, given the attack we are already dealing with from the insurance companies and the Ministry of Justice. I would have expected better from a fellow member of the legal profession.

Rather than concentrating on the public perception of greedy lawyers, perhaps, for a change, some thought should be given to the vital support personal injury lawyers provide to victims of road traffic accidents who suffer much more serious, life-altering injuries than the widely publicised and vilified ‘whiplash’ injury.

In our firm we have ‘cared for’, and I use that expression intentionally, many accident victims. We have become friends and counsellors to these vulnerable accident victims and have guided them through what for the majority has been the most difficult and frightening time in their lives. In the future, such victims will not have access to the care firms such as ours provide because we will no longer exist. Instead, they will be left to the mercy of the insurance companies. Ill-considered opinions such as those expressed by Mr Barley will be very much to blame for the situation these people will find themselves in.

Caroline Golden, Goldens Solicitors, Harrow

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