Litem - a free website with guides to help injured cyclists settle their case themselves

My brother @AlexJ has just finished building Litem, which is a free website with tools and guides to help injured cyclists settle their case themselves.

This will become particularly relevant next year as 70% of injured cyclists won't be able to get legal representation because of changes to the small claims limit. British Cycling are already saying that "thousands of injured cyclists and other vulnerable road users would be unable to recover their legal costs and therefore be denied access to justice".

Litem is in beta at the moment so if you've got any feedback drop @AlexJ a DM or email him at info@litem.co.uk.

British Cycling have a poll to stop the changes to the law which I encourage everyone to sign:

https://takeaction.britishcycling.org.uk/help-us-ask-government-protect-vulnerable-road-users?utm_source=Boardmanshare

and here are a few articles for some more background (in case anyone wants to read me ranting about the proposals):

http://www.cyclingweekly.com/news/latest-news/government-compensation-reform-rides-roughshod-rights-injured-cyclists-solicitors-claim-305913

https://www.cyclinguk.org/blog/julie-rand/will-proposed-increase-small-claims-limit-affect-cyclists

Great site Oliver. Props to your bro...

Well done, I’ve dm’ed a minor question but a good resource

Thanks for your feedback - just DMed you @underuser53929.

btw, private data is not stored by the site - it's just held locally on your device. You can see this for yourself as once Litem is loaded you can use the site offline and it will still work.

Great and much needed initiative. Well done and good luck.

Signed...& will be passed around - let's get a result !

Great site - will be spreading the word!

Signed and shared

Ditto

I'd never heard of this law change before. Article you linked to is from Jan 2017 - what is the latest on this?

@jezston it is contained in the Civil Liability Bill which had its second reading in the House of Lords and is going through the Committee Stages on 10 and 15 May. You can see a more recent article here:

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/health/whiplash-car-accident-cyclist-pedestrians-insurance-premium-claims-government-mps-bill-cycling-uk-a8281916.html

and here's Chris Boardman's tweet about it two days ago:

https://twitter.com/Chris_Boardman/status/990546379088031745

"Good morning,

Thank you for your email and request. I can confirm that Sandy Martin MP has signed this EDM on 18th April 2018.

Kind regards
Milan Skopal
Parliamentary Assistant
Office of Sandy Martin MP for Ipswich"

That's encouraging- more than I have heard back from Diane Abbott...

Thanks, having had legal representation for a couple of accidents and had the money arrive well fucking slowly, with it. I’ve no doubt that this change in the law would make it virtually impossible to recoup any money from insurers for accidents involving cyclists.

I've just emailed my MP.

I'll camp his front door if he doesn't respond.

I have no hope my MP (Jonathan Djanogly) will do anything, given his party allegiance, voting record (even though he voted against the govt last December) and that he seems to be a pretty shit constituency MP. I hope one of his minions finds this and takes it personally.

I got a fairly comprehensive reply from Justine Greening.

Dear Mr Rooney,
Thank you for contacting me about the changes on insurance claims in relation to whiplash claimants.
Just as a bit of overall background to this, here in the UK, whiplash claims are 50 per cent higher than a decade ago, despite the UK having some of the safest roads in Europe and a fall in the number of accidents, so these changes have been intended to end the cycle in which responsible motorists pay higher premiums to cover false claims by others. The Government expects the insurance industry to pass on to consumers an average saving of £35 per policy.
As I understand it, Ministers are proposing an increase to the upper limit for small claims from £1,000 to £5,000, allowing more people with injuries to access the court not fewer. The plans also include the introduction of a transparent tariff system of compensation payments for claims with more significant injuries. On injury victims having to pay their own legal costs under the new system, I'll get that followed up with the Justice Secretary, David Gauke. We don't want to have a system that discourages walking or cycling as you say, and I agree that it would be unfair to deny VRUs the opportunity to claim appropriate compensation for injuries that were not their fault. I'll let you know once I've heard back from Mr Gauke.
Best wishes,
Justine Greening MP

She betrays a real lack of knowledge about the issues. I'd be very interested to see her response once she's heard back from the justice secretary. Please keep us updated...

Send the mail to my local empee, not heard back...

@PhilDAS any update from Justine Greening MP? I’m very curious.

Nothing further as yet

I got the attached response from Diane Abbott so she has gone up slightly in my estimation now!

1 Attachment

• 020- Peter Biggs- EDM 1140.pdf

List of MP who have gone up slightly in our estimation:

• Sandy Martin
  
• Diane Abbott
  

Encouraging to hear that from Abbott - it is hard enough today with huge numbers of people having 25% of their rightful damages eaten by legal fees, let alone if/when these proposals go through next year which will mean 7 out of 10 won't get legal help AT ALL.

I hope the Shadow Home Secretary can get a light shone on this as I think most people are unaware of how negative it is.

It is absolutely crazy to me that the only solution to this issue currently is Litem!