It was during a recent visit to my family in Enfield that I discovered an appalling situation my niece finds herself in following an incident a couple of years ago. It concerned a boy being knocked from his bicycle by a van that didn’t stop. My niece was following and did stop short of the boy and his bike. The police attended and told her she could go as she was not involved. However, the boy’s mother enlisted a “no win no fee” lawyer who managed to obtain details of my niece (via car registration perhaps?) and pursued a claim against her insurance company.

The boy cyclist was not seriously hurt (a scratched toe, I believe), but it went to court and it seems now that the boy's mother can claim for damages each year from my niece’s insurer at the time until he reaches the age of 18. Meanwhile, my niece, a single parent, has lost her no-claims bonus and now is faced with a huge insurance increase for no reason. She is too worried about all this to challenge what has happened to her. She is not working as she is carer to her four-year-old disabled son. Would you, or a legal colleague, know of any organisation that could take up her case without cost or at least minimal charges? In my opinion this is fraud and needs exposing. Perhaps some of your readers may know of similar cases?