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Many of our clients here at The Injury Lawyers are aware they can claim compensation for their injuries, but may not be aware they can claim for other losses. Upon approaching firms you should be given advice regarding the sorts of losses you can claim for after an accident.

Law firms tend to advise of these losses early on in the claim to allow the client to gather up past evidence of losses and save any ongoing evidence for future reference. What this evidence takes the form of depends upon the type of loss which is being claimed.

I have listed some of the more important and common types of loss below:
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The motorway can be a scary place to drive. With cars travelling at such high speeds and in close proximity to each other there is no doubt that confidence and elevated levels of concentration are needed. Many people aim to avoid motorways – always ensuring to set any sat nav to ‘avoid motorways’ preferring to take a longer route instead. This being said however there are people who enjoy the motorway because of its ease to get places. Whatever your thoughts on the motorway I would hazard a guess that most would not anticipate having an accident whilst travelling on one that was not their fault.

There can be many reasons why accidents can happen on motorways. I have discussed a couple below.

Undertaking

When I say undertaking I mean going past someone in a slower lane. This is not only illegal but also dangerous. Undertaking could cause a situation where a driver changes lane from the fast into the middle lane in front of another car. The driver then doesn’t see or expect another car to come down a slower lane and change into the middle lane, potentially causing a collision. In this type of situation the person undertaking would usually be at fault as they should not be undertaking. In order to avoid such accidents occurring drivers should not undertake and should use the motorway correctly by driving down the slowest lane possible.
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Sustaining an injury at work can be a trying time for the victim involved. You may feel that the accident should never have been allowed to happen. You may feel your employers are responsible, and they should do something about it. You may want to claim but you are worried about the backlash from your boss.

The answers are here: read on for a quick guide on what to do in this situation, and what you’re rights are.

Do You Have a Valid Claim?

There are numerous health and safety rules and regulations your employers must legally bide by; particularly in industries involving foreseeable and obvious hazards, such as a building site or a chemical plant. These rules and regulations are there to maintain the duty of care your employers have for you and to prevent you from coming to harm.
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Now you may look at the above blog title and think: “what is she talking about?” Well, in answer to that – I am talking about a landmark case which changed the face of product liability claiming.

The case I refer to is Donoghue v Stevenson and was heard in 1932. The facts of the case are quite simple – Mrs Donoghue was out with a friend and went into a cafe for a drink. Her friend bought her drink – ginger beer – and they both sat down.  Mrs Donoghue then proceeded to drink her ginger beer until she realised there was the remains of a snail at the bottom of the bottle.

Now, you may think – why is this a landmark case? Well, as a result of the incident Mrs Donghue suffered gastro – enteritis and nervous shock as a result of the contaminated drink. As a result Mrs Donoghue claimed compensation from the manufacturers of the product with whom she had no explicit contract (she did not have a contract with the retailer either as she did not buy the drink herself).
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We are all still seeing the effects of the winter madness over December last year that brought Britain to a standstill after seeing some of the most severe snow showers in years. The effects we are still feeling are the pesky potholes which have littered our roads and pathways since the big freeze; caused by water seeping in to cracks in the surface, freezing, and expanding, pushing and cracking the concrete, and forming hundreds – if not thousands – of potholes.

Unfortunately, claiming against the council can be quite a difficult process – so it’s always best to get a top quality injury lawyer on the case to increase your chances of success. The reason it is difficult is because of the legislation we have in place concerning the maintenance and repair of our highways. In reality, the local authority in charge of a stretch of highway is only responsible for the reasonable and practice inspection, maintenance, and repair duties.

But what does this mean?
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For any drivers out there, you probably know where I’m coming from for this article. I do a lot of driving on a weekly basis which involves a long 40 minute to an hour commute on motorways to and from work twice a week when I visit my partner (she doesn’t drive – so it’s always me clocking up the miles!). In my time of driving I have had my fair share of near misses (me being blameless in all), and I unfortunately happen to go across a few roundabout well known in my area to be a bit of a hotspot for accidents and traffic jams.

Every time I see an accident or avoid one myself, it really hits home just how easy it is to end up involved in a road accident. For many it can be a little scary and confusing, as you just don’t know what to do, and you may have already been inundated with calls from your insurers, claims companies, and even solicitors you have never even spoken to offering you money and services.

Well – step back, take a breather, and have a read of this article for what you should be doing if you end up involved in an accident that wasn’t your fault.
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At The Injury Lawyers we deal with all sorts of accident at work claims. The focus of this blog, however, is personal protective equipment; or PPE as it is known for short.

PPE is equipment that is needed at work to wear or use in order to protect workers from risks to their health and safety. If you have suffered an injury due to a lack of/insufficient PPE, then you may have a claim for compensation, just like a worker I read about some time ago. This worker was employed by a car manufacturer to pick out metal debris from a coolant at the base of a drill. Now, due to this, the claimant suffered irritant dermatitis on his hands – an extremely sore and painful condition which meant he had to take time off work. The claimant successfully sued his employers for £5,500 as it was found the claimant was supplied with inadequate gloves for the work as they were pierced by the metal cutting. The employer could also have provided a better procedure of clearing the debris from the machines by implementing a vacuum extraction procedure. So, not only was inadequate PPE provided, but a better procedure all round could have even prevented the victims suffering.

PPE is only really meant as a last resort, whereby the employers have no other way of protecting their employees against the risks to their health and safety.  Regulations in the UK state that this PPE should be provided to employees free of charge and without any contributions having to be made at all. It is also the duty of the employers to ensure the PPE is correctly used; i.e. by way training, and to check that the PPE is maintained regularly and stored correctly.
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If you have unfortunately been involved in an accident that wasn’t your fault, and you have suffered a personal injury as a result, you may have a claim for compensation. During the period after your accident you may have incurred some expenses which we at The Injury Lawyers feel you should not be responsible for. After all, the accident wasn’t your fault, so why should you bear the brunt of any costs?  

Whilst we try and recover most of the costs back that you have incurred, all claimants must adhere to mitigating their losses: this means that claimants must make a genuine effort to keep their costs to a minimum. One example of this – if you have been involved in a Road Traffic Accident which has left you without the use of your vehicle and you need to travel, instead of taking a taxi, where possible, try and see if there is a cheaper option; for instance, taking public transport.  Also, make sure to keep any receipts that can back up the use of alternative transport. This then makes it easy for us to justify the expense to the Defendants insurers.

There are certain circumstances where the losses are justified – a common one we can claim back is your loss of earnings resulting from any time off work you have had to take from the injury, or  from attending medical appointments etc. This is seen as a reasonable expense to claim back. We would normally request that you send us at least 13 weeks’ worth of pay slips as evidence of your earnings.
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Shopping in supermarkets can be a chore for some and a point of enjoyment for others. People may enjoy the weekly visit to the supermarket to complete the ‘big shop‘ as there are a cheaper prices, a great many discounts, and everything is under one roof. Many people may dread that ‘big shop‘ due to the hassle of queues at the tills and traffic upon entering and exiting the expanse of the car park. Whatever your feelings on supermarkets it is the last thought on your mind that you will have an accident in one that was not your fault.

If the above is true and you have had an accident in a supermarket that was not your fault then you may have a claim for compensation. There are many potential hazards in supermarkets – these ranging from an item left negligently on the floor of an aisle to a spillage left negligently uncleaned on the floor. Supermarkets like anywhere else have a duty to protect their customers as far as is reasonably possible. Supermarkets must comply with strict health and safety regulations. Supermarkets must also train their employees in implementing safety procedures. These procedures could involve regular checks of aisles to make sure they are clear, a procedure for spillages, or training in how to safely stack food on to shelves to ensure they do not fall and cause an injury.

In the event you are unfortunate enough to suffer an injury within a supermarket there are a few important things to do. You should report the incident to a member of staff as they may need to fill in an accident book extract. You should check for any witnesses to the accident and obtain their contact details. Witnesses can provide valuable support to any later claim for compensation you may have. You should seek medical attention for your injuries as this not only assists with your injuries but also allows the medic to make a record of the incident in your medical notes. Lastly, you should seek the advice of a specialist personal injury lawyer. It is advisable that this is done directly with a law firm and not through a referral agent. This is because referral agents act as middle men and may simply sell your claim on to the highest bidding law firm and not the firm who will give you the best service.

I think many people feel that the process of claiming for an injury will be lots of hassle and will be too complicated and time consuming. If you choose the wrong lawyer, this may turn out to be a correct assumption. Our team here at The Injury Lawyers, however, aim to make this process much quicker, simpler, and hassle free to the injured victim.

At The Injury Lawyers our philosophy is that if you have suffered an accident and it was not your fault you are entitled to make a claim; and so you should be as you have suffered injury and what may be extensive financial losses due to the negligence of another person / company. We make this process hassle free by having a policy to update our clients every two weeks which takes the stress away from the client, allowing them to rest assured their claim is being dealt with as efficiently as possible.  This ensures our clients are updated and the claim is worked on a least every 2 weeks. At The Injury Lawyers we also ensure to return calls / e-mails on the same day or within 24 hours of receipt; thus again displaying high service levels we give to our clients.

On first approaching a law firm you should ensure that any initial advice given is free of charge – this is always the case at The Injury Lawyers. Just by enquiring about your claim you have nothing to lose.
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