Now law f irm that hounded troops targets Grenfell
A CONTROVERSIAL law firm has been accused of ambulance-chasing survivors of the Grenfell tragedy.
Leigh Day has reportedly suspended two paralegals after they allegedly touted for business among blaze survivors.
The development came as the retired judge leading the Grenfell Tower inquiry was yesterday told he should ‘get used to being shouted at’.
Leigh Day has begun an internal investigation after The Times reported that two members of staff had put posters up at the scene, advertising their services.
Bosses at the company, which championed claims by civilians of mistreatment at the hands of British troops during the Iraq conflict, said they were completely unaware of the alleged activity.
A poster that offered to ‘kick-start’ insurance claims on behalf of those who had their lives shattered by the fire listed the names Harmita Rai and Sejal Sachania, who both work for Leigh Day. Details on the posters also reportedly claimed the company would contact embassies and draft letters for survivors in need legal assistance.
‘Our aim is to help you kickstart any potential insurance claims and review any complex documents,’ the poster read.
A spokesman for Leigh Day said: ‘Leigh Day had no prior knowledge of the posters displayed around Grenfell Tower. The two individuals concerned have been suspended.’
Meanwhile, Sir Martin Moore-Bick was heckled at a residents’ meeting and was forced to admit many locals had no ‘respect’ for his ability to investigate the blaze.
Sir Martin, 70, faced down the crowd as he tried to tell residents that he would examine the matter to the ‘very best of his ability’.
Labour councillor Robert Atkinson, whose ward includes Grenfell Tower, demanded that the judge learn to ‘take the heckling’.
‘The judge has to learn to take heckling from upset people. I don’t think judges are used to being shouted at – and the residents have to understand there are constraints on the timing on what the judiciary can do,’ he told BBC News.
A video of Thursday’s heated meeting shows the former Appeal Court judge being heckled as he says: ‘I will look into this matter to the very best of my ability.’
A spectator told Sir Martin ‘not to get personal’. He replied: ‘You don’t respect me because you say the Government has appointed me to do a hatchet job.’
The Grenfell Tower fire alarm system was silent and not designed to alert residents, it was revealed yesterday. Signals were sent to a company whose job is to determine the severity of an alert before informing the fire service. Conventional alarms were not used because of the block’s ‘stay put’ policy.
David Sibert, of the Fire Brigades Union, said it was normal to have silent alarms in tower blocks ‘because the flats are designed to contain a fire,’ he told The Times.