Crash victims waiting over a year for redress

Tens of thousands of motor accident victims are waiting for compensation payouts after court delays caused by Covid led to a backlog of claims.

An estimated £ 240m of potential whiplash damages is tied up in litigation due to increased court waiting times, according to insurer Zurich.

Statistics from the Ministry of Justice showed that, between July and September, lower-value claims in the small claims category took on average 49 weeks to be heard in court, nearly three months longer than in the previous year. Higher-value multi and fast-track claims took an average of 62 weeks to reach trial, two and a half weeks longer than in 2019.

A further 80,000 unresolved whiplash disputes are still waiting to be heard, the insurer estimated.

Covid restrictions meant that only a quarter of the normal number of trials took place between April and June last year. Volumes have since picked up, but still remain below pre-pandemic levels.

Calum McPhail, of Zurich, said: “On the basis that court waiting times increased between March and June and then further to the end of September, it seems highly likely that, with the further localised and national lockdowns, waiting times will have extended even further.”

The Ministry of Justice said that the delays were likely to continue while Covid restrictions remained in place. New venues known as “Nightingale courts” have been set up to add temporary capacity to hear cases.

A Ministry of Justice spokesman said: “We are taking a range of steps to tackle the impact of the pandemic, including installing new video technology, recruiting more judges and increasing sitting days so cases can be heard as quickly as possible.”