Councils knock over gravestones to keep people from falling on them. Rail Travellers are repeatedly told that station platforms are slippery.

Schools cancel student trips because they cannot get claims coverage form insurance vendors. Other councils chop down trees to prevent children from climbing on them and falling.

Most of this appears to be overkill, but if you are among the unfortunate to get injured on public property or by a public entity or object, it is hardly overkill. Then you are inundated with promises of no-win-no-fee services that mislead many victims into thinking that compensation will be inevitable and free. Reality, however, paints a far different picture.

This entire debacle was avoidable. The abolition of legal aid for personal injury cases in 2000 combined with the earlier introduction of a system of conditional fee arrangements, like no-win-no-fee bolstered the growth of a mob of aggressive claims management companies like water nurtures plant life. Unfortunately, most of their clients fail to realise that the staff of these companies are often not qualified and thus cannot launch legal action, but can only negotiate with the organization that caused the injury. Worse, the companies often charge high fees and often offer expensive insurance coverage to cover the costs if the claim fails.

Complaints grew by the dozen and finally the government stepped into regulate the industry through November's introduction of the Compensation Bill, but that will take 12 to 18 months for the bill to take effect. Right now, it is being managed by the Department of Constitutional Affairs. During the interim, the government that gave us this mess is looking for a suitable venue of management for this unbridled and somewhat unscrupulous industry.

The government is trying to create a claims standards council that would finally possess statutory powers failing that an entirely new body cannot be erected. "It is difficult to know whether the new legislation will be effective but the framework it creates is promising," says Tim Powell of Powell Forster Solicitors, a Brixton-based firm that does a lot of personal injury work. "It will prevent people providing claims management services unless authorised."

Meanwhile the all-party constitutional affairs committee has begun a review of the compensation culture to assess whether standardized fees would address the expenses of those who have been victims of injury of loss. According to a newly published guide, titled Claiming Compensation, from the Advice Services Alliance, which includes Citizens Advice, the Law Centres Federation and others, 2.5m people a year suffer personal accidents at work, in traffic, while undergoing medical treatment or as a result of crime. Most studies, however, indicate that the numbers of claims for compensation are on the decrease.

Claimants need to understand that what they expect is not often what they get. "The reality is that compensation claims can be stressful, highly costly and take several years to complete," says the Advice Service's guide. In this venue, claimant beware is the best advice.