When you’re in charge of around 10 tonnes worth of metal, seats, and engine, you’d like to think that the driver of the bus you’re in has the passenger’s health and safety at the forefront of their mind. Sadly, this is not always the case.
I am in no way slating all bus drivers – but even when I was learning to drive I was warned about taking extra care around them as the drivers can, on occasions, be a little unpredictable. In all honesty, we have taken on a huge number of claims involving buses that we have successfully won thousands of pounds in compensation for our clients.
So – did it come as any surprise when I myself ended up in a bus incident? Not particularly…
I have been advising our clients for years about the symptoms they can expect from whiplash injuries. Now, I can truly tell them what it feels like! The driver of the bus I was seated in unfortunately appeared to have a momentary lapse in concentration, where he only noticed the lights on red at a busy 40mph junction at last minute. The brakes must have been fully slammed on during the 3 – 4 seconds it took for the bus to violently jerk to a halt – inches from the edge of the traffic junction line.
In these instances, bus companies will often try and defend the claim if they can allege that another driver pulled out in front of them, or a pedestrian walked out in front of them, leaving them no choice but to perform an emergency stop. In my case – there were no other vehicles, and no other pedestrians. The drivers’ concentration (I assume) slipped for an instant, and he is at fault.
Almost one week on, and I’m feeling the effects – so anyone reading this with a whiplash injury, I can genuinely sympathise with you! As with the majority of whiplash injuries, my pain came on the following day when I woke up with a sore neck, back, and right shoulder. The pain has since radiated down in to my back, which is pretty agonising when riding in a car, or sitting at my desk in my office chair.
Whiplash is, as I have advised countless accident victims, an unpredictable and difficult injury to assess.
- How long will I be suffering for? Who knows…
- Will it get any worse? I don’t know (although I hope not!)
Naturally, I am now a client of The Injury Lawyers – not only because I work here, but because I know I will receive 100% of any compensation awarded to me. All the legal fees will be recovered from the insurers of the bus company directly at the end of the claim. If it doesn’t win, then I’m not responsible for a single penny of the legal fees. If my suffering persists, I will certainly make use of the private medical care we offer here at no cost at all to accident victims!
My claim will be submitted to the insurers in no time. In the meantime, a formal request has already been made to the bus company to retain and review the CCTV footage on the bus. This footage should prove as vital evidence for my claim – it should show the sheer velocity of the braking just by looking at all the passenger’s heads and bodies lurch forward and back with force.
I’d like to think that the bus driver did the right thing and has already reported the incident as per health and safety procedure. Unfortunately, it’s not safe to bet on it! – Hence the request for the CCTV footage to support the claim.
So, if you have been in a bus accident, and you believe the driver is at fault, make sure you get in touch with a quality injury lawyer to get the ball rolling for your claim. Why not give me a call directly (just ask for me by name) and let a fellow bus incident victim help you out?
I’ll write again about my claim when I hear something back from the insurers – hopefully, it will be positive news, and the insurers will pay out. I’m keen to make sure this doesn’t happen again – had the driver not noticed the red lights in time, he would have certainly taken us straight in to the centre of a busy 40mph junction – and maybe in to another vehicle. Had we have hit another bus or a lorry, the casualties involved would have been serious.
For specialist advice about making a claim after a bus accident, or any other accident that was not your fault, call us now for a free, no obligation chat about your options.
