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We all love going on an evening out, whether it be going to the pub after work, going for a dance in a night club, or at a bar for a chat with friends.  We get all dressed up and excited about the forthcoming evenings events.  It is the farthest thing from our minds that we may have an accident that was not our fault causing us an injury.

Well, we at The Injury Lawyers have many clients come to us after having an injury on a night out, and so in view of this we write this blog to educate and inform.  Many of our clients think that they cannot claim for their accident as they had consumed alcohol on the evening in question; well, our answer to that would be that we assess your claim free of charge so there is nothing to lose in trying.  Depending on the circumstances, consumption of alcohol does not mean you cannot bring a claim.

There are many possible hazards whilst on a night out which could cause you an injury.  These include spillages on the floor causing a slip hazard, broken glass on the floor which could cause lacerations to the foot, or exacerbate a fall injury, or even if an injury is caused through the club/bar/pub being overcrowded.  If someone slips on a spillage and pulls you down with them you may also be able to bring a claim.
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One of the most common, if not the most common, questions we face at The Injury Lawyers is: ‘How much is my claim worth?’  This, however, is not a question we, let alone anyone, can answer with certainty straightaway.  It is impossible to immediately value your claim.  How come?  Well, we don’t know when your injuries will heal for example.  An injury that lasts two years will be worth more than the same injury that lasts one year, for example.  But we do not know when you will fully recover at an early stage.  What we can do however is give you a guideline figure as to the value of your injury.

So how do we do this?

A good starting point is the Judicial Studies Board (or ‘JSB’) guidelines on general damages (compensation for your injury alone) for personal injury.  These provide an excellent indication of the value of your claim.  These guidelines allow us to begin to value your injury by providing examples as to how much a head injury, facial injury, back injury, neck injury, leg injury or foot injury may be worth.  The guidelines are based on previous compensation awards made by the courts.  Importantly, the JSB guidelines are not law.  If you receive £4,000 and the JSB guidelines suggested you may be entitled to £4,500, it is not a matter of fact that you should have received that extra £500.  However, what can be said with certainty is that the professional injury lawyers at The Injury Lawyers will always seek the maximum compensation for you.

Here are some examples from the JSB guidelines:
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Modern daily life is chaotic, rushed, and busy.  Therefore, supermarkets have become a close friend and ally. They have all of life’s essentials under one roof; so with one quick trip you have got all the fuel to get you through another busy week.  Not only this, but prices are low and discounts are numerous.  You may think that I am promoting the perks of supermarket shopping, but I’m actually pointing out why personal injury within supermarkets is on the increase.  It is the furthest thought from our mind that we may have an accident in a supermarket that is not our fault; however, the statistics for it are surprisingly high.  This is why at The Injury Lawyers we like to write blogs to inform our readers about when you can and can’t claim for compensation.

There are many possible accidents that could occur within a supermarket.  There could be a spillage on the floor causing a slip, an item left in an aisle causing a trip hazard, or the items on the shelf could be poorly stacked causing them to fall on top of you.

Supermarkets have a duty to look after their customers as much as possible and they must comply with important Health and Safety Regulations. All employees within a supermarket must be fully trained in maintaining these safety standards. This training could include simple things such as having a schedule to check for clear aisles, a cleaning process for spillages, or training in stacking shelves safely. 
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Hand-Arm Vibration Syndrome (‘HAVS’), also known as Vibration White Finger, is an industrial disease which has been diagnosed in thousands of people.  It occurs where someone is exposed to lots of vibrations in their hands and arms.  As such, those affected tend to feel numbness in their fingers and may even witness their fingers turn white.  Indeed, should the condition get worse, they may lose feeling in the whole of their hand and the hand my turn completely white.  In the worst case scenarios the sufferer may actually lose their fingers.

So when does this condition occur?  If you are a manual labourer for example and handle vibrating hand tools, such as drills and chainsaws, on a regular basis or prolonged period, you may well suffer from HAVS.  If you use vibrating hand tools regularly and you believe you may be suffering from HAVS, it is important that you seek medical advice.  It is then key that you seek the advice of a professional, quality injury lawyer who can advise you as to whether you may be entitled to make a claim for compensation.  By way of example, back in 1997 seven coal miners who regularly used vibrating tools obtained over £125,000 in compensation after being diagnosed with vibration white finger.  Moreover, since 2004 the Government has paid out over £100m to ex-coalminers who have brought claims having suffered from HAVS.

Why might you have a claim for compensation if you have been diagnosed with HAVS?  Simply because by way of The Control of Vibration at Work Regulations 2005 your employer must limit or protect your exposure to vibrations.  What does this mean?  It means that you employer has a duty of care towards you to ensure that you are not over-exposed to vibrations whilst you work.  It may be that you are only allowed to use vibrating tools for a certain period of time and that you are better trained in how to use these tools for example.
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When we talk of road traffic accidents, we tend to think that the crash involved two or more cars – we typically consider a road traffic accident to be a car crash.  However, as the name suggests, road traffic accidents incorporate all accidents that occur on our roads.  This includes accidents involving buses.  If you have been involved in a road traffic accident whilst you were a passenger on a bus, as would be the case if you were involved in a car accident, you may be entitled to compensation where you have suffered a personal injury.

If you have been involved in a bus crash and subsequently sustained an injury, it will be the case more often than not that the crash was not your fault.  As such you may deserve compensation to place you in the position you would have been had the accident not occurred, and you had not sustained an injury.  You should therefore contact a quality injury lawyer who will be able to advise you on your potential claim.  This may be against the bus company or the driver of the vehicle that caused the collision.

If the accident happened because the bus driver was negligent, you are able to pursue the bus company for compensation.  This is because they are vicariously liable for the bus driver.  In other words, because they employ the bus driver, they are liable for his actions.  The bus driver is their responsibility.  So, if it is considered that the bus negligently crashed, the bus or negligently accelerated or braked too suddenly, causing you to be thrown from your seat for example, you are entitled to make a claim for compensation against the bus company for your injuries.  Bus drivers are under a duty of care to their passengers and have to drive safely and responsibly.  If they do not adhere to this duty then the bus company they work for can be held liable for any injuries resulting from their negligence.
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When people hear of others getting injured at work, they tend to think of accidents occurring on a building site, accidents involving machinery, or maybe someone falling off a step ladder when putting items on shelves, for example.  It may therefore surprise some of you to know that one of the most common injuries suffered by workers are Repetitive Strain Injuries, or ‘RSI’s’.  What is meant by an RSI?  Well, RSI is a broad term which relates to the pain people suffer when they overuse a certain part of their body.  RSI affects different areas of your body, but these injuries most commonly occur in your wrists, arms, fingers, back, shoulders, elbows and necks.  Where someone carries out repetitive tasks for long periods and without sufficient time for rest, they may suffer an RSI.  Currently, RSI injuries are keeping thousands of employees off work for long periods at a cost of millions of pounds to businesses.

If you have a desk job and are sat in front of a computer all day, it would come as no surprise to us here at The Injury Lawyers to learn that you have suffered an RSI.  If you are currently in a job which has repetitive tasks, for instance working at a checkout, carrying out the same manual handling tasks over and over again, serving on a production line, or carrying out data entry tasks, and you are also in pain, this may be down to an RSI.  It is therefore important to consider whether you have any of the following symptoms – if you do, get yourself seen by your doctor and seek the advice of a professional injury lawyer who will be able to advise you as to whether you are entitled to compensation:

• Is there tenderness in your muscles?
• Are you unable to go about your normal business without being in pain?
• Do you suffer cramps on a regular basis?
• Are you in pain even when you are resting?
• Does a particular part of your body ache, feel numb or tingle?

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One of the most frequent questions we get at The Injury Lawyers is as to whether you may be entitled to compensation.  In other words, do you have a claim?  Fortunately, we are quality injury lawyers with a vast amount of experience in this area we are able to provide you with the answer to this question in minutes (normally).  All we need to know is the sort of accident you have been involved in and the injuries you have sustained.  These are the most important pieces of information.  If you have not been injured, you may not be able to make a claim.  However, if you have suffered an injury, no matter how minor you may think it is, you could well have a claim and be entitled to compensation.  It is also important that the injuries you have suffered were not entirely your fault.  So, if you sustained an injury which is not your fault, you may deserve compensation and it is essential that you seek the advice of a professional injury lawyer who can immediately advise you.

It may now be a good idea to give you some examples of the work we undertake at The Injury Lawyers.  It will show you the sort of claims that can be made and help you take your first steps in obtaining that compensation you may deserve.

• One of the most common accidents suffered by our clients are those involving road traffic accidents – in other words, car crashes and motorcycles accidents.  If you have been unlucky enough to have been involved in one of these and it was not your fault, you can make a claim for compensation.

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This is a common question I hear on a daily basis from the new clients whose cases we accept – and not just for whiplash, but for any injury suffered through the fault of another person or party.

But how much are you entitled to claim for a whiplash injury? Well, the only way to properly value your injury is with a specialist solicitor on board, and a medical report compiled by an expert. But we can give you a few guides as to what you may be looking at:
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Despite it being illegal to drive a motor vehicle without suitable insurance, it is quite apparent here at The Injury Lawyers that some people consider it okay to drive uninsured.  This is the case even though the vast majority of people know that it is an offence to drive without insurance.  Interestingly, though I imagine not everyone is aware of this fact, in 2011 it will also be against the law to own a motor vehicle without appropriate insurance unless this motor vehicle is certified as ‘off road’.  However, regardless of these laws, people do drive uninsured, and unfortunately some of these uninsured drivers end up causing accidents.  In fact, each year 23,000 people are injured and 160 people are killed by uninsured drivers.

So, what happens if you are involved in a road traffic accident where the other person is uninsured?  Normally the other persons insurance would compensate you, but in this scenario, it may be that the other person with no insurance has inadequate funds to compensate you. If you have been involved in a road traffic accident and have sustained an injury through no fault of your own, you are entitled to compensation – so what happens where the person who caused your accident has no insurance and no money to compensate you?  You are of course entitled to compensation – but on this occasion, does this right disappear?

The simple answer is – You are still entitled to compensation.  You will be compensated through the Motor Insurers’ Bureau (the MIB).  The MIB was set up in 1946 to compensate the victims of negligent untraced or uninsured motorists.  By way of the Road Traffic Act 1988, every motor insurance company must help fund the MIB.  In other words, part of your motor insurance premium goes towards the running of the MIB.  It is estimated that roughly £15-30 of your insurance premium goes towards the cost of running the MIB.  So, if you have sustained a personal injury as a result of a road traffic accident in which the other side is uninsured, you can still make a claim for compensation.  It is also worth noting that this claim for compensation can include any property of yours which has been damaged as a result of the road traffic accident.  In 2008, 64,000 claims for compensation were settled by the MIB.
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Many of us go on a night out maybe once every couple of weeks, or maybe even once a week if the pennies allow.  For many an evening out could consist of dinner, a night club, bar or anywhere really where we can go out to let our hair down, relax and socialise with friends.  It is the last thing on our minds that we could have an accident and end up being injured!

It will probably come as no surprise that personal injury claims resulting from a night out are very common occurrences.  This is probably due to the fact that there are many hazards in night clubs and bars – such as spillages of drinks on the floor which cause a slip hazard and, broken glass on the floor which could exacerbate a fall injury or cause a direct injury.  If someone slips on a spillage which was negligently left as a hazard, and in doing so pulls you down to the floor with them, there could potentially be a personal injury claim for both victims’ injuries.

You may not think it, but pubs, clubs, and bars have the same duty to keep their patrons safe as anywhere else.  Many venues prohibit drinks on the dance floor to avoid spillages, or they provide plastic cups to avoid broken glass causing injury.
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