Ex-QPR player sues Marketform

Former QPR and Millwall footballer Marc Bircham is suing Lloyd’s syndicate Marketform for £874,273, claiming the insurer failed to pay out for an injury that ended his career.

Bircham says he will never be able to play professional football again after suffering an ankle injury during training with Yeovil Town in October 2008.

According to a High Court writ filed earlier this month, Bircham submitted an insurance claim on 9 January 2009. But Marketform rejected the claim, saying there had been a breach of warranty and/or material non-disclosure.

In response, Bircham’s lawyers sent a letter to Marketform’s solicitors on 23 November last year disputing the rejection, and then filed the writ.

The policy also pays out if Marketform decides Bircham was permanently disabled.

Marketform Syndicate 2468 chief executive Simon Turner said: “We rejected [the original claim] on a valid basis, and that’s been upheld by an independent arbiter.”

Bircham’s lawyers declined to comment.