Personal injury news

London bombing victims struggle for
personal injury compensation

Hundreds of victims of last July's brutal London bombings will not receive a penny of personal injury compensation until at least 2007, the Observer newspaper has revealed.

With just over two months until the first anniversary of the despicable terrorist acts, some of the United Kingdom's biggest personal injury solicitors have declared that most of the cases involving the suicide attacks have not yet been completed.

Officials from the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority have admitted 'difficulties' in processing the high number of claims that have been submitted, but it is the 'penny-pinching' attitude of the authorities that personal injury lawyers are most infuriated by.

Many of the law firms dealing with the 7/7 compensation claims have revealed how the powers that be have attempted to pay the bombing victims and their families as little as possible. One example they quoted was of a woman who was offered personal injury compensation of just £5,500 after her husband was killed in the explosions.

Colin Ettinger, a London-based compensation solicitor, slammed the authorities' approach to the issue, saying, "You would have thought they might exercise a bit more discretion, show a bit more of an even-handed approach, rather than one that is just penny-pinching and trying to ensure that the award that they make is the minimum they have to.

"Sometimes that grates. It's quite galling in most cases."

Mr Ettinger also added that of the 17 clients who have made personal injury compensation claims as a result of last year's bombings, only one has so far received a final settlement.