What Is Personal Injury Surveillance and When Is It Used?
What is Personal Injury Surveillance?
- Definition: Covert video recording, physical tracking, or online monitoring used to document a claimant's physical capabilities.
- Methods: Private investigators typically film in public spaces like stores, parks, or outside a home from a public vantage point, and scrutinize social media platforms like Facebook or Instagram.
- Legal boundaries: Investigators cannot trespass on private property, peer through windows, or record inside a home. That is intrusive surveillance and not legal.
When Is It Used?
- Detecting exaggeration or fraud: Used when insurers suspect a claimant is faking or exaggerating physical limitations—such as a person claiming they cannot walk independently being filmed jogging or carrying heavy items.
- High-value claims: Deployed more frequently in major compensation cases to scrutinize whether medical reports match actual everyday behavior.
- Around medical exams: Conducted before, during, or after independent medical examinations to check for sudden changes in a claimant's presentation or use of mobility aids.
Our Expertise
It is important when instructing a company to carry out surveillance for you, to establish they are experienced, credible and members of a professional association such as The Association of British Investigators (ABI).
Surelock has been carrying out surveillance operations for over 30 years both nationally and internationally, we are probably one of the most experienced companies in the UK, our surveillance teams are drawn from the police and military services, not only capable of professionally gathering the evidence but also experienced in giving evidence in court if required.
How Does Surelock Work?
Surveillance is carried out on an individual who has claimed to have been injured either in the workplace or in a public place following an accident, then made an insurance claim which on occasions is worth a great deal of money if successful.
Following instructions from a business, insurance companies, lawyers or litigators, one of our dedicated accident injury surveillance teams will be deployed to gather evidence to prove or disprove someone’s injuries.
This surveillance entails observing the movements of the claimant over a period of time. Several days are required as claimants often allege a good day bad day syndrome, in that if you only followed them on one day they could say that it was a good day!
Is Surveillance Legal?
Yes, it is particularly important for this type of surveillance conducted in a public place, to be in accordance with RIPA. Although as a private company this is not actually necessary, at Surelock we adhere to the principles. As you are observing a member of the public and possibly members of their family, children, details of which must be hidden. It may be necessary to follow the subject for a long period of time, whilst in a public place, on foot, in a vehicle, on public transport, entering shopping malls, pubs and restaurants, and in particular focus on their physical movements, to prove or disprove whether the injury complained of is legitimate.
What Is The Purpose Of This Surveillance?
Full instructions are received giving details of the injuries / illness complained of and this surveillance will help to establish if this is genuine, exaggerated or indeed completely fictitious / fraudulent, as we always say “the camera never lies and every picture tells a story”. It is essential that it is legal and in accordance with privacy laws and data protection - the Human Rights Act 1998, Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 and The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Intrusive surveillance, looking into a private place, in their house or garden is not legal.
Specialist Equipment.
Our teams use the most up-to-date equipment that can be covertly installed in a vehicle or body worn, so as not to identify them. We have used drone technology on premises that are not easily viewed, with aerial images observing exactly what they are doing.
Personal Injury Surveillance Case Studies
These cases can save our instructing clients a great deal of money, with the result being either non-payout or a greatly reduced pay-out, all we are trying to establish is the truth.
Recent cases have identified: -
Claimant A – alleged they were unable to walk and carry out work, surveillance proved they had no difficulty, walking, driving, gardening / using wheelbarrows, shopping and walking the dog.
Claimant B – alleged they were unable to work because of their injuries, surveillance not only proved they had no difficulties moving, but they were also carrying out a normal life, going to the pub etc. and in fact were working for another company.
Claimant C – alleged they were unable to work or drive, surveillance proved the subject went out early each day driving their motor vehicle, they appeared to be employed driving a minibus.
Claimant D – alleged they were unable to work due to their injuries, surveillance over a period of days proved the claimant was working, driving and taking his dogs for walks in a nearby park.
Claimant E – alleged they were unable to walk, drive or work, surveillance proved he drives daily. travels to a workplace, enroute he is clearly seen kicking the car with his injured leg, for no real reason and had no trouble walking or driving.
Claimant F – alleged they were unable to work as they had restrictive movements, surveillance proved they were carrying out very physical work, after which returning home, they were observed laying turfs in the front garden for nearly an hour continually, later observed driving the family car for the school run.
The list is endless. All these successful operations have assisted our instructing clients to contest the claims and saved money.
What Evidence Do We Supply?
With all our surveillance operations, we supply a detailed log of events with selected images that show the movements, particularly physical, we supply an edited copy of this recording with the original always available for any proceedings. The quality of our surveillance reports has been commended on occasions in contested cases by the Court. As our surveillance is conducted fairly and captured on film, it is very rarely contested.
What Are The Costs?
We work strictly to an hourly rate, our costs are £70 per hour per operative, plus travel, mileage and necessary expenses. We would always suggest a three-man team to cover every eventuality without being compromised.
What Should I Do Next?
We are regularly instructed by several clients, providing a nationwide service. Our teams are very experienced in personal injury surveillance, our evidence, logs of events, reports and covert footage clearly show all the movements of the claimants. We are very seldom called to give evidence in legal proceedings, because the quality of our surveillance is excellent and cannot really be contested.
You will be in safe hands, so if you have a need for this professional service, please get in touch.
C: www.surelock.org/contact-us
T: 0333 6000 300
.jpg)
