Compensation Culture Comes to the UK

After reading this article, I'm gonna sue everyone who reads this blog for the RSI that writing these posts is causing me. So there.

Actually, I think I will sue my local Co-Op supermarket. For Lent this year I decided to give up chocolate and crisps but then discovered these wonderful flavoured "milk shake" sweets. Before I knew it, I was eating a packet a day and, occassionally, two. I put on four pounds which I am now desperately trying to get rid of. So I think I will sue them, what do you think?

In fact, now I've written about them, I need a fix. That's how addictive they are!

The Guardian | Fri May 14 2004 | page 7 | UK News: "Manchester's biggest shopping centre is attracting an un-welcome type of customer: a plague of compensation-hunters with exotic grievances.

Recent claims against the Trafford Centre on the orbital M60 include a demand that the three miles of walkways be carpeted to avoid a repeat of a woman's swollen ankles after hours of shopping.

The �900m mall has also been asked to pay medical bills for another shopper left with a cricked neck after 'shock at the sudden movement of a street artist playing a human statue'.

Both bids failed, along with an attempt at compensation from a 'shopper of Jordan proportions' [note for non-UK readers: Jordan is a "model" in the UK with famously large breasts] allegedly trapped by her bust in a revolving door, suffering injury and distress. The centre has told would-be litigants that it should not be seen as a soft touch, ready to pay 'no win, no fee' lawyers on the grounds that fighting demands would be cheaper than a minor payout. The director of operations, Steve Bunce, backed the warning with a list of the '10 most staggering' claims attempted by Trafford Centre lawyers this year.

'The number of people claiming against the centre is negligible in comparison with the number of customers, but we are exasperated and amazed by the basis for some claims,' said Mr Bunce. 'They reflect the compensation culture which is fuelled by the advertising campaigns claiming 'no win, no fee'. Many claims are blatantly fraudulent.'"