Cashing in on misfortune

It's quite ironic that it was the moment when I slipped on someone's discarded egg mayonnaise sandwich that I spotted the first accident claims rep in the street.

She laughed and then I laughed but probably more out of embarrassment than anything, then I said: “Can I claim for that?”, her expression answered my question.

I think I can say that I don't know how I feel towards accident claim companies, although I'm not altogether that comfortable with the suing culture that seems to be filtering its way in to England. In my view, if you trip on a paving slab then perhaps you should have been paying more attention to where you were walking. Hey! I look out for raised paving slabs, not egg mayonnaise sandwiches okay, and I never sued.

Seeing the rep standing behind her portable, branded podium made be ponder the fact that there doesn't seem to be the raft of 'no win, no fee' TV commercials that there used to be.

It wasn't until a little later after walking along the street, still dragging my right foot along the pavement to remove the more stubborn fragments of hard boiled egg, that I encountered a second accident claims rep, same type of podium, different company, this time with a message scribbled in dry marker pen on the side.

The message said: "Earn cash, £100 for each referred claim."

It then occurred to me that this may be the dawn of a new wave of accident claim companies, appealing to the public's more greedy side, encouraging them to sue the pants off people whenever they feel they may be able to get away with it despite how minor the accidents or repercussions are. Alright, we're in a recession and money is tight but do we need to turn to this for extra cash? Oh, I hope not.

I looked up in the sky, expecting to see accident claim lawyers circling above like vultures in braces and three piece suits, waiting for their next morsel of carrion. I didn't of course, instead I got an eyeful of a bank worker standing in the window of the staff room, looking out, plastic cup in one hand and the little finger of the other rooting around in his left nostril - perhaps he was looking for more toxic funds.

I left the high street to wander down to one of the two shopping centres we have here in the town, only to be greeted by a stall in the atrium area, manned by a couple grunts who were approaching people to see if they wanted to sell their jewellery. For cash! Oh dear me, I was struck by another scavenger simile, perhaps this time a hyena, hysterically laughing while they removed the 24 carat gold, family heirloom off from some financially struggling pensioners neck.

Clearly a recession strips us of more than jobs and savings, it seems it's capable of stripping us of our morals and ethics too.