PAYOUT OF CONTROL

PERSONAL injury claims have reached pounds 7BILLION a year as Britain overtakes America as the compensation capital of the world.

One in six Britons who suffer an injury requiring medical attention now consult a lawyer, compared to one in seven in the US.

Some extraordinary compensation cases include David Rowlands, 70, who won pounds 600 after walking into a road sign - even though he admitted he was not looking where he was going.

The case cost Wiltshire county council almost pounds 8,000 - but Mr Rowlands said he decided to take legal action after the local council did not acknowledge his complaint.

John Barrett from Petersfield, Hampshire, won an out-of-court settlement over neighbour Andrew Jordan's windchimes.

Other claims include solicitor Michael Goldman against the organisers of a Scrabble tournament at Folkestone, Kent, for starting a game without him.

Madeleine McDonald, 38, won against a hairdresser in Wimborne, Dorset, who left her looking "like an old woman of 80".

Convicted child killer James Kay claimed after an injury to his ankle playing cricket at Broadmoor top security prison in Berkshire.

And engineer Darren Miles from Weybridge, Surrey, sued McDonald's after scalding himself on an apple pie.

Frank Furedi, a professor of sociology at Kent University, said: "I don't think it is down to greed. It is an issue of trust. People don't trust institutions or even their own neighbours any more."

The full scale of compensation pay-outs is revealed in The Claim Game in Meridian TV's Focus series, on Tuesday at 11pm.

pounds 26,000

JAMES KAY

CHILD killer hurt his ankle in a cricket match at Broadmoor top security prison.

pounds 23,000

MICHAEL GOLDMAN

WON costs for being in the loo when Scrabble game started without him.

pounds 750

DARREN MILES

WON out-of-court settlement for scalding himself on a hot McDonald's ple.

pounds 2,900

MADELEINE McDONALD

HER pounds 35 highlights at the hairdresser's made her look "80" she said.

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