Re: Spring 2014 | Page 65

In 2010, a report by Lord Young to the Prime Minister on the “compensation culture” stated “…there is no end to the constant stream of misinformation in the media…” and that “…the health and safety agenda had been hijacked by the tabloid press, whose reports often contributed to…. Misunderstandings by regularly exaggerating and ridiculing instances which in reality have little or nothing to do with health and safety” control its own speed, and when the vehicle crashed, sued the manufacturers for failing to warn him that it did not self steer. Remember that story? And we all thank goodness we don’t have that kind of mad claims culture over here, but it will come to us if we’re not careful. The thing is that story is exactly that – a story. It’s completely made up. One of those urban legends that gains credibility because people keep repeating it as if the health and safety agenda had been hijacked by the tabloid press In March 2013, the Master of the Rolls Lord Dyson gave a lecture which spelt out the dangers of believing what you read in tabloids. He gave the example, which I am sure you will all have heard, and which was repeated in the tabloids at the time, of the Motorhome driver that apparently put the vehicle on cruise control, then went in the back to make himself a coffee, believing that the vehicle would steer itself as well as it’s true. You’ve also probably heard about the McDonald’s coffee story – Mrs Liebeck suing because her coffee was too hot. Incredible. But what you don’t get to hear very often is that she suffered third degree burns to various parts of her body, remained in hospital for 8 days, had to undergo skin grafts, was disabled for two years, and is scarred permanently, and it became clear during the trial that McDonalds coffee at the time (early 1990s) was heated to around 180-190 degrees centigrade, that they had known there was a problem with it as they had previously had over 700 claims for burns brought against them, and yet they still hadn’t reduced the temperature. In this country, British stoicism is actually likely to make people less inclined to bring claims than the tabloids would have you think. Out of 4,000 people who die each year from work related lung disease, only a small minority receive compensation – 59 people last year. And out of over 200,000 cases of work related stress and anxiety that are recorded by the HSE, less than 300 received any compensation. In my experience, people have been desperate when deciding to make a claim, not knowing how their employers will treat them, not knowing if they can support their families, and usually in considerable and long lasting pain. Getting some justice for genuinely injured people is what brought me in to the legal arena in the first place, so I’m proud that at Mayo Wynne Baxter, we continue to fight hard for such clients. By Chris Randall 63