Peter hired a ‘no win, no fee lawyer’ after a row with a neighbor turned ugly… and then faced a shocking £52,000 bill when he lost
After retired teacher Peter Hodgson believed he had been wrongly arrested by Greater Manchester Police, he thought he had nothing to lose by suing them.
The 80-year-old filed a claim for damages that would earn him £5,000 if he won. And because he hired a law firm to represent him on a ‘no win, no fee’ basis, Peter assumed that even if he lost, he wouldn’t run out of money.
So he was shocked and distraught when he lost and was presented with a bill for £52,000.
What Peter didn’t realize is that the no win, no fee agreement – also known as a Conditional Fee Agreement (CFA) – would cover his own law firm’s costs if he lost, but not the other party’s.
Since their introduction in 1995, CFAs have been a lifeline for hundreds of thousands of people who have a case but cannot afford legal support to represent them.
Many companies that offer CFAs are responsible and honest about what customers are and are not liable for. But the sector has long been embroiled in controversy and Peter is not the only one paying the price.
Arrest: Retired teacher Peter Hodgson sued Greater Manchester Police after he and his son Simon (pictured together) were accused of verbal abuse, assault and threats to kill
Earlier this year, the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) criticized law firms offering CFAs for ‘failing to meet their obligations to always act in the best interests of their clients’. It said there were 83 ongoing investigations into 72 companies at the end of 2025.
Law firms were told that regulations would be tightened to place greater emphasis on transparency, informed consent and consumer protection.
Later this year, the Legal Services Board, which oversees the legal sector in England and Wales, will publish a list of CFAs that could force the government to legislate.
Nikki Stopford, co-founder of consumer rights group Consumer Voice, said: ‘No win, no fee can be a lifeline for people who want to take over big companies but simply can’t afford to go it alone.
But there are clear problems with some unscrupulous companies in the sector.
‘The statutory regulator has notified the sector, but we are skeptical that this will be enough. Issuing guidelines or even banning the phrase “no profit, no cost” will not stop rogue operators.
‘Consumers need a regulator that intervenes and uses its powers quickly to ensure that they are not harmed by poor practices.’
For Peter, his nonprofit nightmare began in December 2015, when he and his son Simon were accused of verbal abuse, assault and death threats by neighbors following a long-running land dispute in
Saddle value. Peter was charged by police and held in a cell for over seven hours – despite having angina and associated health problems.
In October 2016, Peter was acquitted of a public order charge at Tameside Magistrates’ Court, thanks to CCTV footage of the incident.
After he was acquitted, Peter thought he might have a case against the police for detaining him. So he commissioned HNK Solicitors, which promoted themselves as experts in suing the police, on a not-for-profit deal.
In 2019, he made a £5,000 compensation claim against Greater Manchester Police (GMP) for false imprisonment.
After the pandemic, his claim was finally tried at Manchester County Court in August 2023. However, the jury found that the force had acted within its rights and Peter was told to pay legal costs.
Peter thought that the costs would be covered if he lost. So he was shocked when he received a final demand for £52,000 from the force’s lawyers, Clyde & Co. And with interest and extra charges, the total bill started to get closer to £60,000.
His son Simon said: ‘Finding my father at the computer, staring at a letter asking for £52,000, was one of the darkest days of our lives. He lost so much sleep. The amount of worry he had was unbelievable.
He said, “That’ll bankrupt me. I’ll lose everything. I don’t know what to do.” He was broken. He was devastated.’ Simon said his father was assured by HNK that he had a strong case, but once he was defeated he was on his own.
“His lawyers abandoned him,” he says, “and my father had to negotiate costs himself. But every time he wrote to Clyde & Co they added to the bill. They charged him interest on everything, plus all the letters and the time they spent on them.”
Most people in this situation would have little choice but to pay. Fortunately for Peter, another law firm discovered a loophole that meant he didn’t have to do that.
A friend in the legal industry suggested to Simon that his father consult a costs lawyer, Victoria Morrison-Hughes, of Integral Legal Costs, who is also vice-chairman of the Association of Costs Lawyers.
Costs lawyers focus on calculating, challenging and advising on who pays the legal costs and how much.
Ms Morrison-Hughes discovered that Clyde & Co and GMP had missed the mandatory three-month deadline for submitting their cost claims.
They subsequently failed to comply with two separate court orders requiring them to conduct detailed investigations.
Ms Morrison-Hughes, based in Cheshire, said: ‘The reason we won was entirely down to their behavior – because they had to do things within a certain time frame and they didn’t do them.’
She said any losing plaintiff faces a difficult decision if he or she thinks the bill is unreasonable because challenging it could only pile up costs.
Mrs Morrison-Hughes charged Peter flat fees for her services.
However, she acknowledges that a CFA may be the right option in some cases, as long as it is handled transparently.
No win, big fee: Peter’s contingent fee agreement would cover his own law firm’s costs if he lost, but not the other party’s
But if you need legal support, you will find that you can get it for free through your home insurance, without having to use a CFA.
Some home insurers offer Before The Event insurance, which covers legal disputes. Some banks even offer it to holders of their premium checking accounts. Alternatively, you can take out After The Event insurance, which will indemnify you if you lose a case.
Peter Hodgson died in 2024 knowing that the legal bill had been wiped out and the family home did not have to be sold to
pay it. Thanks to Mrs Morrison-Hughes, his widow Kathleen, 88, and son Simon still have a roof over their heads.
A tearful Simon warns: ‘Don’t trust a law firm that offers an easy solution. I’m sure there are some great legal people out there, but you need to fully understand what you’re getting into and the consequences if you lose.
‘If my father had known the risks from the start, he would never have started working.’
Express Solicitors, which acquired HNK Solicitors in 2025, said client confidentiality prevented it from commenting in detail on the matter.
It says all clients will be informed of the ‘costs’ if they lose, and that it is ‘perfectly normal’ for lawyers to stop representing them once a case has closed.
A spokeswoman for Clyde & Co said Mr Hodgson’s claim had been dismissed in favor of GMP and that all steps taken in the case, including costs recovery, were appropriate and in accordance with the rules of the court.
She added: ‘Any suggestion that enforcement action was intended to cause personal hardship or that inappropriate threats were made would have been misconstrued.’
A spokeswoman for GMP said the court had ruled that Mr Hodgson’s arrest was lawful.