Had a close shave? Call Brigitte Goff

A HAIRDRESSING negligence specialist at the forefront of a national campaign to regulate hairdressers was herself the victim of a negligent cut.

Brigitte Goff's legal career changed forever after her hair was badly damaged during a bungled highlighting session three years ago.

The personal injury lawyer successfully sued the hairdressers and has since used the expertise she gained to develop a niche practice as a specialist in the hairdressing field.

"I can't reveal the amount of damages I won but it wasn't a small claims court settlement. It took a year and a half for my hair to grow back properly," she said.

Last month she joined the Coventry firm Newsome Vaughan from the Birmingham-based practice William-son & Soden with a brief to establish her own department.

Meanwhile, the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers has taken up her call for legislation to regulate hairdressers and make it compulsory to take out public liability insurance.

The campaign has even reached Parliament with the tabling of an early day motion by Liberal Democrat trade and industry spokesman Nick Harvey calling for more regulation.

Goff has acted in a wide range of cases from relatively minor sub-standard cut cases to major compensation claims for clients who have suffered serious burns.

Her call for regulation was spurred on by the fact that in cases where clients are injured after attending fly-by-night uninsured hairdressers she is sometimes forced to advise her clients that it is not worth taking action.