I’ve heard from sources at the BBC that two buses have crashed earlier today in County Durham, and 9 ambulances are said to be on the scene on the A693 in Stanley. An Air Ambulance has also said to have been dispatched, and although casualty numbers are yet to be confirmed, the number of ambulances in attendance is fairly concerning.
Bus accident claims are very common – so here is some advice about your rights if this happens to you.
First things first – it’s likely you HAVE a claim
As a passenger in a bus collision, you should have an almost guaranteed claim. The reason for this is that a collision will normally only occur if someone is at fault. Whether it’s the driver of the bus you’re on or a driver of another vehicle, someone is normally to blame. As long as there is an at-fault party, you can make a winning claim for personal injury compensation against the insurer of the driver at fault.
As a passenger, it’s normally the case that there is nothing you could have done to have contributed toward, or prevented, the accident. Liability is practically nailed on.
So what should I do?
If you were able to exchange details with other passengers at the time and perhaps get the details of the driver, that’s great. If not, I hope you’ve kept your bus ticket or proof of purchase as this can help a lot as well.
If the police were in attendance, someone should hopefully have noted your information down. This can be important as one of the first steps in winning the claim is to prove you were on the bus. It’s not that anyone is suggesting you’re lying, but the burden of proof is always on the victim and the insurers will not simply take your word for it.
If paramedics were in attendance and they treated you, they should have taken some details for you. As long as we can obtain some proof, you should be fine.
Next – call a lawyer!
Call an actual law firm and not one of these accident advice services or claims management companies who will just pass you to a lawyer and take a percentage or charge you for doing so. Come to a real law firm like us, and always speak to a specialist personal injury firm.
Of course, make sure you seek medical attention as your priority, but it’s wise to make a claim right away because most buses now have CCTV footage that can show you were on the bus and perhaps help in showing who was at fault. Footage will quickly disappear though, so get a lawyer instructed right away so we can take steps to protect this vital evidence for you.
How a claim works
Take it from a law firm who is used to dealing with bus accident claims all the time – from single passengers, to whole bus loads claiming with us, we know the process inside out.
We need to submit a Claim Notification Form directly to the insurers of the bus company, so if you have the registration number of the bus, that’d be great. If not, don’t worry – we can look to get this information for you. We will also arrange for you to be seen by an expert that we will sort the funding for and we then use their evidence to value the claim. Once we have all we need, we’ll fight tooth and nail for the best payout possible.
Just leave it to us – call our free claims helpline on 0800 634 75 75 today.
