Ever wondered how lawyers got to be as trustworthy as estate agents and politicians? Well I can give you an example. About four years ago we moved into our new house. Shortly after, work started to upgrade the road near our house from a single carriageway to dual carraigeway.
Despite paying a lawyer to do a search this work came as a total surprise to us - so money well spent there then. Anyway, the UK government provides statutory compensation for people like us, close to road building work. It's simple to claim, you get a lawyer, he makes a claim, the local authority in which the road is built pay you the compensation and the government pay the lawyer. Good stuff.
Now, you can't claim this compensation until the road has been open for a year, which is coming up in our case. So, through our letter boxes have come a flood of adverts from lawyers willing to take up our case on a no win no fee basis, for 10% of any compensation they win for us.
Talk about taking the piss! Firstly, it's not a case of winning compensation, it's statutory compensation, the "other side" as it were, aren't contesting anything! Secondly, the government pay the lawyers fees, so they are getting paid to do the job, and then, they want to take 10% of our compensation!!
The absolute best bit though, is that if you are dumb enough to sign up with these crooks, you can't go with another lawyer without paying a fee!! Fantasic! How is this even legal? Thankfully, we had the situation explained to us before hand, so we threw their adverts in the bin, where they belong.
Tag:
Lawyers