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Our expert team at The Injury Lawyers deal only in claims for personal injury; so we’d like to think we know a thing or two about compensation claims! We are an independent specialist firm of injury lawyers with a proven history of happy clients and successful claims.

You should always instruct a specialist personal injury lawyer to deal with your claim if you want to get the best service and the best outcome. So, here’s a little about us, and what we do – because we can only really guide you on how we work given that many other injury law firms work in entirely different ways.

Specialist Independent Injury Lawyers

We are a specialist firm of expert personal injury lawyers – we only deal with injury claims, so you always get an expert injury lawyer and a team of dedicated assistants working with you and your claim. Our expertise range from Road traffic Accidents, work accidents, slips trips and falls, product liability cases, medical negligence, and many more.
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There are many careers which obviously involve working at a height.  These include tree surgeons, builders – especially roofers and scaffolders, and TV aerial installers.   These people put themselves in danger on a daily basis to give us their essential services and we are of course grateful to them for that.  Therefore it is an obvious assumption that working at height injuries are most common with people in careers as listed above.  This assumption maybe correct, however, people in all sorts of different careers can suffer a working at height injury – for example, a librarian stacking shelving, or a shelf replenishment assistant in a supermarket falling whilst filling up products on shelves.

If you have had an accident whilst working at a height and it was not your fault then you may have a claim for compensation.  Employers must comply with legislation as set out in the Working at Height Regulations 2005. The full facts of this legislation need not be the topic of this blog – however, there are a few points which can be taken from it.  These being that the working at height situation should be properly supervised and planned, the correct safety gear and equipment should be checked prior to use and should be used in the correct manner.

If an accident does occur whilst at work it is important to report it to a supervisor as a record of it may need to be placed in an accident book. It is also important that you seek medical assistance to allow a medic to place a record of it in your medical notes and assist you with stabilising your injuries. You may want to check if there were any witnesses to your accident and obtain their contact details as they may be able to support any later claim you may have. After the accident, you may want to take a note of accident details, such as the time and exact location, to keep events fresh in your mind.  Lastly, but probably most importantly, you need to seek the assistance of a specialist personal injury lawyer to bring your claim for compensation.  This should be done directly with the solicitor; I say this as there are many referral agents out there who will simply sell on your claim to the highest bidder rather than you getting the firm who will give you the best service.
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If you have been involved in an accident and have subsequently sustained an injury through no fault of your own, making a claim for compensation could not be easier.  Despite what some people believe, or may have told you, making a claim for compensation is not difficult and does not take as long as it once did.  How come? Well, recently there has been the introduction of the Pre-Action Protocol for Personal Injury claims.  This has somewhat streamlined the process, making it more systematic and has made the process of seeking compensation rather easier.  So, if you have been put off making a claim for compensation because you think the other side will drag out the matter, not come back with a decision on liability, or that it will take too much effort, this guide has been created to ease those worries and show you that things really are simpler than you may think.

At The Injury Lawyers we do everything in our power to ensure not only that you receive the maximum compensation that you deserve, but also that you receive this compensation with the least amount of fuss and in the quickest time possible.  How do we do this?  Well we efficiently guide you through the Pre-Action Protocol for Personal Injury claims.  Here is a little guide as to how we do this.

The Pre-Action Protocol for Personal Injury claims sets out a sequence of easy steps that are to be taken by both sides in order to settle your personal injury claim as quickly as possible.  We will initially create a Letter of Claim which summarises your accident, the injuries you have sustained, and details of any financial losses you have incurred as a result of your injury.  We always produce a detailed Letter of Claim to make sure that investigations of your claim can begin at once.  This Letter of Claim is sent to the other side who have a period of 21 days to acknowledge receipt of this letter.
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Vibration White Finger, or Hand-Arm Vibration Syndrome (HAVS), has been diagnosed in many workers where there job involves working with hand held power tools such as drills and chain saws.

It is thought that the condition is due to the vibrations from the power tools causing minor injuries to the nerves and blood vessels in the hand.  These minor injuries then build up over time causing the condition of Vibration White Finger.

The condition may be known more commonly as Vibration White Finger, however, since the symptoms involve much more than simply having white fingers, the name has been altered to a more all encompassing term –Hand-Arm Vibration Syndrome.  These symptoms can vary in different people, but may include cold sensations in the skin of the fingers with discolouration of the fingers, numbness and/or tingling sensations in the fingers, and general aching in the arms, hands and fingers. In more serious cases the sufferer may experience a complete loss of feeling in the finger which can radiate throughout the hand.  These symptoms may come and go or they may be a permanent frustration to the sufferer.
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Now the term ‘no win, no fee’ is a term which most of us are familiar with. This may be due to personal injury advertisements on the television and radio or from someone on the street stopping you for marketing purposes.

So, ‘no win no fee’ may be a term we are used to hearing, but do we really know what it means.  Well at The Injury Lawyers we are here to inform and educate our blog readers in all aspects of personal injury and so to fulfil our duty we write this blog to educate you on one of the most important parts of bringing your claim – the no win, no fee agreement.

No win no fee means that if you do not win your case you do not pay any of the solicitors costs in dealing with the claim.  So you may think – ‘How do we get paid?’ Well, in the event you lose your claim we have insurance which covers anything we paid out as a result of your claim – however, we lose being paid on any of the time we spent on your case.  So it is a risk to the solicitor in taking on a case – however a solicitor will only ever take your case on if they believe there are genuine prospects for success.  However, even if you win your case, you still pay none of our costs – you get 100% of your compensation and no bill from the solicitor.  This is because the other side pay our costs and we take nothing from your compensation.  Compensation is meant to put the claimant back in the position they would have been in had the accident never happened, therefore if the solicitor took a portion of this, the victim would not have been fully compensated.
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Personal Injury claims are on the increase and this may be for a number of reasons, one reason being that more people are aware of their rights and what they can claim for.  However, this does not mean that everyone who comes to us is fully confident in the fact that their injury can give rise to a claim.  The Injury Lawyers are open from 9am – 10 pm and we have experienced staff on hand to explain there and then whether you have a claim – this advice is also free of charge whether you have a claim or not.  You have nothing to lose by trying.

At The Injury Lawyers we are approached by clients who have suffered injuries in a variety of accidents.  I will list some of the sorts of claims which we deal with here at The Injury Lawyers:

1. Accidents at work – these can include injuries from heavy lifting, slips and trips, and falling from a height.  If you feel your employer has been negligent in some way and this has led to your accident then you may have a claim for compensation. Industrial disease cases can also come under this with cases such as Vibration White Finger and Beat Knee.
2. Road Traffic accidents – these are extremely common types of claims and include all means of transportation – whether your accident is in a car, on a motor bike, or even if you were travelling on a bus, you can claim for compensation if the accident wasn’t your fault.
3. Clinical negligence – if you feel that you have not received adequate care from a clinical professional and it has lead you to suffer in some way, then you may have a claim. This can include care whilst in hospital, a walk in clinic, or whilst visiting your General Practitioner. It also covers any private care you have as well.
4. Accidents at school – we have a vast amount of experience in dealing with accidents within schools.  You can act as an agent on behalf of your child by becoming their Litigation Friend and dealing with the claim on their behalf if they have been failed by their school.
5. Accidents in a supermarket – Supermarkets have a duty keep their customers as safe as is reasonably possible.  There are many possible hazards in a supermarket from slipping on a spillage to tripping on an item left in an aisle or having items fall on you from a poorly stacked shelf.

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We all love to go on holiday. It may be for the sunshine, the change of scenery and culture, or simply just to spend quality time with your loved ones.  However, the last thing on your mind whilst you are filled with excitement is that you will fall victim to an accident that was not your fault.

If the unthinkable happens to you and you suffer an injury from an accident whilst on holiday that was not your fault, you may have a claim for compensation through your holiday package provider if the accident is in some way linked to the service you have bought. For example, if your accident is in the hotel that your package provider organised for you, you may be able to claim through the provider rather than against the hotel (due to differences in the law, going through the provider is the feasible option).

Now, one of the differences about claiming for an accident that happened abroad through a package provider is that the defendant is allowed a longer amount of time within which to investigate the matter before they admit or deny fault.  Now this can be seen as an obstacle or you can think – well, is it better getting a compensation pay out a little later rather than never at all?
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The Sale of Good and Service Act – you may be aware of this important piece of legislation we have in place to protect us from poor products and shocking services. When we buy a product or invest in a service, we expect that the outcome provided will be of a satisfactory standard. In fact, that’s precisely the reason the Act is in place.

Know Your Rights!

Under the Act, a product sold must primarily adhere to three main factors. The product must (under the Sale of Goods Act 1979) be:

• As Described – The product must fit any description of it, whether written or verbal from the seller. If the product is clearly not as described, you should be entitled to a full refund or replacement (if appropriate).
• Fit for Purpose – The product must do what it is intended to do. A can opener should open cans; a phone must make and take calls; a car must drive. If the product cannot do what it is intended to do, you should be entitled to a refund or a replacement.
• Of Satisfactory Quality  -The product must be free from defect, have a good appearance, and be, most importantly, safe to use. If a product is not of a satisfactory quality, you again may be entitled to a refund or replacement.

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You may hear the term ‘no win, no fee’ on a regular basis. Whether it be on advertisements on television, being stopped on the street by marketing people or whilst completing your preliminary research on which firm to take your claim.

So, the term ‘no win, no fee’ is common. However the term ‘Conditional Fee Agreements’ I can guess is not so familiar with our blog readers.  The Conditional Fee Agreement is a document which sets out the terms of the ‘no win, no fee agreement’.  Depending on the solicitors, these can be fairly lengthy documents and there is always the temptation to simply trust your lawyer and not read the small print.  However, I cannot stress how much we at The Injury Lawyers advise against this.

At The Injury Lawyers we have many clients who have transferred their claim to us due to poor service from their previous solicitors. We are always amazed at the different sorts of Conditional Fee Agreements we see our clients have entered into before coming to us.  This is why we like to inform and advise our readers to READ THE PAPERWORK.
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Road accidents are a common occurrence – they really do happen all of the time, every single day. There are so many ways you can end up injured through the negligence of another driver out there on the roads; but there are also ways in which you can claim for compensation even if another vehicle is not involved.

A few road accident examples:

Rear End Collisions

If another car crashes in to the back of you, unless you broke suddenly without good reason, it’s pretty much safe to say that you have a successful claim for compensation. If someone goes in to the back of you, they have not allowed enough distance between their vehicle and yours. They are likely at fault for the accident.

Roundabouts

Accidents on roundabouts can so easily occur! The simple and easy rule to follow is – always give way to your right. If another driver pulls on to the roundabout and hits your vehicle, they are at fault if you were already proceeding on the roundabout. If you and another vehicle to your left approach the roundabout at the same time, you have the right of way – the other vehicle must give way to you on their right. If they don’t, it’s likely you have a successful claim for compensation. Unless you’re driving abroad of course…
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