Amazingly we have taken on several claims where our clients have been injured by a bus driver closing the doors on them. Whether it’s down to a failure to pay attention or simply not seeing the client boarding the bus? There is a duty of care on bus drivers to ensure that their actions do not injure anyone.
So if this has happened to you then you may have a winning claim for personal injury compensation.
The bus company can be vicariously liable for the actions of their employees; as such, you can sue the bus company as the employer of the driver. If you have been injured because the bus driver was at fault for closing the doors on you then you ought to have a winning case.
Time is often of the essence in these sorts of claims, and it can help a lot if you have reported the incident and taken some details from the bus driver. At the very least retain your bus ticket as this can be used as vital evidence for the case.
The main reason time is of the essence is because there could be vital CCTV footage on the bus that could prove your claim. Don’t simply expect the driver to accept to his employer that he was negligent – give yourself the best possible chance of winning by making the clam as soon as possible; because vital CCTV footage won’t stay there forever.
Most places will get rid of footage within a few weeks unless you specifically request that they retain it. Don’t think that the action of even reporting the incident means that it will be kept – air on the side of caution and instruct a lawyer ASAP to ensure that the footage is retained right away.
Once that footage is gone, you could end up in a situation where it’s your word against the bus driver. The burden of proof is on the Claimant – i.e. you – to prove your case, so in the absence of proof, you may find it very hard indeed to win a claim.
Making a claim is normally fairly easy – as long as you have enough vital information for us to get a claim submitted right away, it shouldn’t be too difficult to get things started.
At the very least, the bus ticket will hold vital information – the journey number, bus driver ID, times, dates, etc – as well as being proof that you were there at the time of the incident. If you didn’t get one or don’t still have a ticket then we need as much information as possible to assist with the claim, such as:
- Bus registration number, if possible
- Route number and destination
- Time of the incident and location of the bus stop
- Name of the bus company
And remember – claim right away because that vital CCTV footage won’t last forever!
