“The personal injury discount rate applies to victims of the kind of nightmare crashes we all fear the most, who need vital compensation to meet their needs for the rest of their lives. If the insurance industry does not pay the full and fair compensation for which their customers are accountable, people with catastrophic injuries will have to turn to the State to fund their needs and their care or go without. The taxpayer should not have to bear this cost when the whole purpose of compulsory motor insurance is to take care of people, properly, when something goes wrong," said APIL chief executive Mike Benner.

“The insurance industry persists in demonising victims of negligence to cover for their own business practices. Whiplash victims were already hit hard when compensation was slashed three years ago on the promise of lower premiums, which never happened. Now insurers are shamelessly turning their attention to the most severely injured road crash victims with life-changing injuries, who must not be burdened by the industry’s wider problems,” he said.