The new Government policy could see rape victims and the families of murder victims lose £1,650 from a £11,000 state compensation payout. A brain injury victim could lose up to £37,500 from a possible maximum amount of £250,000.

Until now, the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority could reduce payouts in instances where “the applicant’s character as shown by his criminal convictions makes it inappropriate that a full award or any award should be made.”

However the new measures will affect anyone who has a previous minor conviction within the last five years. Up to five million British motorists could be affected, as the courts issue up to one million speeding fines a year.

Tory Shadow Justice Secretary Dominic Grieve has called the new rule change “revolting.”

“The idea that a rape victim or the parents of a murdered child should have their compensation docked for a speeding conviction years earlier is a revolting proposition,” he said.

The Conservatives believe the move is an attempt by the Labour Government to save £25m in public spending.

Raj Kumar Khushia, 37, said he was originally promised more than £15,000 in criminal compensation from the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority (CICA), but the figure was later halved to £7,671 because he had armed himself in self-defence.

The incident took place on May 16, 2005 while Mr Khushia was waiting for an order at a takeaway in the Handsworth area of the city. After grappling with the two armed raiders, it is alleged that Mr Khushia armed himself with knives from a nearby pub and confronted the dangerous pair for a second time after spotting them from inside his car. This led to one of the raiders opening fire and causing him a near-fatal injury.

“The bullet virtually went through my stomach,” Mr Khushia explained. “I don’t know how I survived. I was given 72 hours to live at one stage. I lost my spleen and my spine had to be rebuilt. I have since been off work and can no longer play football or do weight training, which was my favourite hobby.”

The married father of four now requires the aid of a walking stick.

“All I got from the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority was £7,671. This had been reduced from just over £15,000 because I was told I was armed with knives at the time. Yet I had done this to defend myself.”

A spokesperson from CICA said: “The Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme requires us to take into account the victim’s behaviour during the incident, and their character, when deciding whether to offer compensation, make a reduced award or no compensation at all.”

There have been instances of personal injury inquiries following incidences such as election billboard posters falling down, or distracting drivers.

But Martin Hart, of Hart & Co Solicitors in Belfast, said: “Somebody confronted with this sort of scenario should adopt a scatter-gun approach, in other words sue everyone and anyone concerned with the erection of the poster. This would include the actual candidate, their party and the person or company who put it up.”

However, the personal injury sufferer and the person responsible for the poster can be the same. Northern Ireland councillor Robert Smith was putting up one for his party’s candidate Diane Dodds when it came down and left him with facial stitches.

Eileen Ewing, of Thompson Crooks Solicitors, said any personal injury claim should “consider whether the poster had been sufficiently secured to prevent it from being blown down in bad weather”.

Mr Hart added: “The case of action would be personal injury, loss and damage. Let’s say worst case scenario, somebody is hit on the head by a poster and they crack their skull – they’d obviously sue for this or whatever injury they’ve suffered.There may also be loss of earnings to be considered if they’ve had to take off work for any length of time.”

Kevin Johnson, who was 22 at the time, was stabbed outside his home in Sunderland after he confronted three unruly teenagers.

John Johnson, Kevin’s father, was told that if Kevin had stayed inside his home, instead of challenging the youths, then he would not have been the victim of a stabbing.

The three teenagers, Dean Curtis, Tony Hawkes, and Jordan Towers, aged 19, 17, and 16 respectively, were later jailed for life over the murder. Minimum sentences ranged from 13 to 17 years.

John Johnson, 57, has had his compensation bids turned down by the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority (CICA) twice.

John commented: “I know a lot of families now agree with what I do…we feel we should be given this compensation as a right and not have to fight for it or even apply for it”.

“I’ve heard that only about 5% of families put in for it because of all the stigma that surrounds it, and out of those that do 70% get turned down.”

When asked for comments, the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority said it would not speak about individual cases.

John has now set up the “Enough is Enough” campaign, which pleas for harsher sentences for people found guilty of using knives in cases of assault.