MPs press for compensation

MPs press for compensation

Philip Huxtable: Struck off last year

Two Devon MPs have been meeting senior officials of the Law Society over unpaid compensation claims against a disgraced Barnstaple solicitor.

Some former clients of Pitts Tuckers are still waiting for cash and assets they say they are owed, 18 months after the firm was shut down by the Society.

The Law Society received 120 compensation claims totalling nearly £1.15m from former clients of Pitts Tuckers as a result of the probe.

It has already paid out £665,000.

Clients overcharged

But North Devon MP Nick Harvey said the delay in resolving people's affairs was too long.

He said: "There is frustration and a certain amount of despair because in some cases large amounts of money are involved.

"There is a feeling that the Law Society is making it quite difficult for people to go about trying to recover this money."

Solicitor Philip Huxtable, 52, the sole practitioner at Pitts Tuckers, was struck off last year for overcharging clients by more than £100,000.

The action followed a Law Society inspection of the accounts of four of his clients.