A FATHER has hit out at the compensation culture after receiving a demand for payment following a collision between a motorcycle and his 13-year-old daughter.

Charles Smith, of Martindale Close, Warndon, Worcester, said he was shocked to discover he has been asked to pay for the damage caused to the motorbike as well as compensate the rider for the injuries he sustained.

The 54-year-old said his daughter, Emma, a pupil at Christopher Whitehead School, St John's, did not see the motorcycle when she began crossing Woodgreen Drive, Warndon.

He said he feared the worst when he saw her being thrown across the road.

"I just ran across the road and when I got to her she started screaming," said Mr Smith.

The collision, which happened on Saturday, October 2, left Emma with grazes and bruises and she has not been to school since.

"She was a very, very lucky girl," said Mr Smith.

However, he was upset when he received a letter from Kent-based Michael Taylor Associates Solicitors asking for compensation.

More important

To ask for damages for his vehicle just seems that his vehicle is more important than my daughter," he said.

He pointed out that if the situation was reversed he does not believe that he would seek compensation.

"The culture of this country is to sue," he said.

"You see adverts on the TV all the time, 'Have you been injured in the past three years'?

"It's a rotten culture at the moment."

The full-time father said he does feel sorry for the rider and accepts that he had no chance of avoiding his daughter.

When the Evening News contacted Michael Taylor Associates Solicitors, the case handler, Dee Latif, said because of client confidentiality she could not comment.

Laura Wilkin, from the Forum of Insurance Lawyers, which represents defendants in compensation cases, said there is a perception of a compensation culture.

"There are pockets where claims are increasing, like clinical negligence and public liability claims - where someone slips or trips over," she said.

Mr Smith said he has sought legal advice and is now waiting to speak to the police before deciding what action to take.