Your claim for compensation will consist of two types of damages. General damages are the part which covers the compensation for your actual injuries, pain, suffering and loss of amenity. Special damages are things that you have had to pay for as a result of the accident. These are recovered as part of your claim.
There are lots and lots of things that clients can claim for, with the most common losses incurred as a result of an accident being:
- Loss of Earnings
- Travel Expenses
- Medication Expenses
- Care & Assistance
Depending on how long you have been off work due to your injuries, lost earnings can sometimes have a significant impact on your financial situation and therefore it is only fair that the money which has been lost due to time off work can be recovered if you were not at fault for the accident. If you are employed, in order to prove and calculate the loss, you will need to provide 13 weeks of wage slips showing your earnings before the accident and any wage slips after the accident which show any deductions.
If you are self employed, then a copy of your accounts for the 3 years prior to the accident and a copy of the accounts for the year of the accident will be needed. However, please do not worry of you have misplaced or do not have such documents as they will more than likely be available from your employer or accountant.
Medication expenses are easily calculated and are for any medicines / drugs which you have personally paid for in order to help with your accident related injuries. Prescription charges are also included under medication expenses. This type off loss will need documentary evidence to support the claim and therefore you will need to keep receipts in order to recover the cost of the medication back.
Travel expenses can cover taxi fares, bus fares, parking fees and mileage. The travel expenses are for travel which would not have been necessary if you had not been involved in the accident.
Therefore it can include trips to the doctors, hospital and to treatment appointments amongst other trips you may have had to make. For example, if you are unable to drive due to your injuries then you may be able to claim back the travel costs to go shopping or go to work, if you would have normally used your vehicle. Again it is advisable to keep receipts for these expenses or note the mileage for the trips if you are driving.
When you are injured as a result of an accident you may need extra help from friends, family or even professionals for domestic chores or personal care. This covers help with shopping and cleaning to bathing and dressing. Obviously if you are receiving help from professionals then the receipts or invoices showing the payment made to them should be retained in order to support this loss. Help from friends and family is calculated differently and we use a standard hourly rate to calculate this. Therefore it is important that a record of what help you have received and for how long you received this help is kept.
Although you may have documentary evidence in support of all your losses, sometimes not all of the costs will be recovered as they may not be deemed reasonable given the nature of your injuries. However, the medical expert which we will send you to see in order to compile a report on your injuries and the effects they have had will confirm what is reasonable and this is taken into account by the defendants.
As we are experts in the area of personal injury, we are also experts in the associated losses. The above are just examples of what you can claim and is not an exhaustive list. So if you have other losses, contact us so that we can provide you with professional advice on your injuries, losses and circumstances.
Our free claims line number is: 0800 634 75 75
