Whiplash is a common injury that is usually suffered after a road accident. It’s caused by the sudden jolting of your neck, either forward, backwards, or sideways. The muscles are stretched beyond their normal range of movement, and it can be an absolute pain to cope with!
Whiplash Symptoms
- Pain in the neck, shoulders, and back (either all three, or just some)
- Stiffness / loss of movement in the affected areas
- Headaches, drowsiness, and sometimes a feeling of sickness – even vertigo in some cases
- Pins and needles (normally in the arms)
It doesn’t matter whether you were hit in the rear, hit head on, were the victim of a driver pulling out of a side road or in front of you on a roundabout – the impact can easily cause a whiplash injury.
Unfortunately, whiplash can be a much more complicated injury than most people think. It’s difficult to predict; sometimes lasting a few weeks, and sometimes lasting months and months – or even years. The symptoms often don’t appear until sometime after the accident – ranging from 24 – 48 hours, or even after more than a week. So, if you feel fine after your road accident, don’t let your body fool you. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but it’s likely you will wake up one morning feeling the symptoms.
What Can You Claim For
If you are suffering from whiplash after an accident that wasn’t your fault, you can claim for:
- The Whiplash Injury: based on the length of time, severity, and affect the whiplash injury has had on your life (i.e. the bigger the impact, the more it’s worth)
- You can also claim for other injuries arising from the road accident (say, a bruise from hitting part of your body in the car)
- Lost Earnings: if you have had to take some time off work as a result of the injury itself, you can claim back any lost earnings. If you have a week off work unpaid, you are entitled to make a claim for one week’s worth of lost earnings.
- Medical Fees: if you have to pay out for any over the counter medication, prescription medication, physiotherapy costs, or any other costs related to your recovery, you can claim these back. Make sure to keep receipts for anything you pay out for.
- Travel Costs: if you have to travel between physio, or general medical appointments, you can claim back your travel expenses. Whether it’s your petrol to and from the appointment, taxi fares, bus fares etc: all can be claimed back. Again, retain any receipts if you pay for transport.
- Care & Assistance: if anyone has had to help you out with domestic chores, shopping, cooking, cleaning, gardening etc – you can make a claim for this as well.
Whiplash Claims Calculator
The only way to value your whiplash injury is with a specialist medical report form a fully qualified medico-legal expert, and a specialist personal injury lawyer representing you for your claim. The medical evidence goes hand in hand with the JSB (Judicial Studies Board) Guidelines, which for whiplash (approximately):
- Minor Whiplash: £1,000 – £5,000
- Moderate Whiplash: £5,000 – £15,000
- Severe Whiplash: £15,000 +
Statistically, the average payout for a minor whiplash injury is £2,500. But bear in mind – it’s all down to how badly you have suffered, and also down to any losses you have incurred.
Whiplash Recovery
It’s recommended that you have treatment right from the start. Any good personal injury lawyer will organise private medical care right from the outset of the case. You, the whiplash victim, should never have to pay any fees up front, or pay for any medical fees at all, whether the claim wins or loses. If the claim wins, your medical fees are recovered from the other side. If it loses, they’re covered by insurance (you also don’t have to pay anything towards any insurance).
The Next Steps – What to Do!
If the whiplash injury was caused by someone else’s negligence (i.e. the road accident wasn’t your fault), you can make a claim for compensation.
Instruct an independent specialist personal injury lawyer to deal with your claim. Only a fully qualified expert can maximise your claim.
Avoid insurance companies referring you to a lawyer (even when they say it’s their “own legal team” or “approved lawyer”). Normally your case will be “sold” on to a solicitor for a referral fee (often through Legal Expense Insurance, or Motor Legal Protection). This leaves you with a solicitor that has wasted a huge proportion of their budget on “buying” your claim; potentially leaving you with a cash strapped lawyer with less money to spend on fighting harder for your claim and ensuring you get the maximum you are entitled to claim for.
Claims companies that refer you over to solicitors do the same; taking a cut as a middle man, whether it’s from your payout, or from your solicitor’s budget. Take our advice, and the advice of the Law Society and the Bar Council whom all agree that: “referral fees be stopped, on the grounds that they have the potential to limit access to justice and reduce the quality of legal services on offer.”
Instruct your own independent lawyer – it’s the best way to guarantee a better service. For more information, feel free to get in touch.
