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Every year thousands of people are injured when they are involved in road traffic accidents with uninsured drivers, or worse, drivers that are untraceable because they don’t stop at the scene of the accident. Uninsured and untraced drivers cause many problems to normal law abiding road users, such as the loss of their no claims bonus and increased insurance premiums, and to many, particularly in today’s financial climate, this can put them under a lot of financial pressure.

So what happens if you are involved in an accident with an uninsured or untraced driver? What can you do? Well, first of all do not despair because you can claim back compensation through the Motor Insurers Bureau (MIB). The MIB is a non-profit making organisation set up and funded by all motor insurance companies and the UK Government to compensate victims of uninsured and untraced drivers for injuries and financial losses sustained as a result of an accident. The MIB typically deal with around 50,000 claims every year involving untraced or uninsured drivers.
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If you have had an accident at work that wasn’t your fault, you may have a potential claim for compensation. This is because whilst you are at work, your employer had a duty of care to ensure that you are not exposed to dangerous working conditions. There should be health and safety measures in place to stop a work related accident from happening.

If you are unsure if you have a valid claim, we suggest you try speaking to an independent firm of personal injury solicitors. A personal Injury solicitor will be able to assess your situation and advise you accordingly as to whether you have a successful claim or not.
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Acute appendicitis is sudden inflammation of the appendix, usually caused by an obstruction. It is the most common cause of acute abdominal pain in the UK, meaning that about 10% of the population will develop appendicitis at some point – most commonly between the ages of 10-20. If it is not suspected, or diagnosed promptly, it can rupture and cause a severe, life threatening infection. For this reason, it should always be at the front of any physician or surgeon’s mind.

In one recent case, a patient was admitted to an A+E department with a short history of diarrhoea and vomiting. He was promptly and thoroughly assessed and was diagnosed as having a case of gastroenteritis, with the warning that if his symptoms deteriorated, he should seek further medical advice.

Unfortunately, by the next day, the patient’s symptoms had worsened and he was feeling feverish and had developed severe abdominal pain. When he saw his GP, and informed him of the diagnosis, the doctor was falsely reassured by the previous findings and recommended analgesia and to drink more fluids. A urine test showed blood which may have indicated a urinary tract infection, so antibiotics were also prescribed. At no point did the doctor repeat the abdominal exam which may have provided valuable information.
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It’s no secret that in many areas the state of Britain’s roads are substandard. The cold snap we endured this winter probably didn’t help! Most pot holes are created by water seeping in to cracks in the highway surface. If the water freezes, it subsequently expands, putting pressure on the concrete and causing it to break.  But who is responsible for it all, and what are the duties they have?

Most public highways are the responsibility of the local council to regularly inspect and maintain them, and ensure they are not a potential hazard people using them. If the local authority fails to do this, then they are liable to pay compensation to anyone suffering an injury through the state of the highways. So here are a few examples:
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If you have been involved in a road traffic accident, you have probably sustained a whiplash injury. If the accident wasn’t your fault, you could be entitled to claim for compensation. Whiplash injuries may not be so obvious straight away. You may have some aches and pains initially but after a matter of weeks injuries can even leave clients bed bound.

If you have had a whiplash injury you will probably find that you are contacted by a number of companies trying to persuade you to claim with them. Try not to be persuaded by insurance or claims management companies; this is because your claim will be under settled in a big way! Insurances companies for the party at fault will probably contact you saying that they can settle you claim in a matter of weeks, and they may even give you an amount they are willing to pay you there and then.
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They are a lot more common that you might think! Which is surprising given that the rules and regulations employers must adhere to are strict and numerous to protect the safety of the employees in their working environment. So here’s a little insight in to why employers fail to adhere to regulations (leaving them open to a claim against them), and what employers are expected to do:

Well, perhaps it’s a lack of understanding of the importance of health and safety regulations in the workplace that is a root cause. There are common duties that all employers must ensure to uphold; such as ensuring all access ways are free from hazard (e.g. no holes in the floor!!!), ensuring all electrical equipment is duly tested for safety (e.g. no explosive kettles!), or even employees being trained and instructed on the buildings fire procedures. So what kind of rules and regulations must employers adhere to?
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Have you recently had an accident in a taxi? Perhaps your child has been in an accident in a Taxi? Providing the accident was in no way any fault of your own, you may have a potential claim for compensation. This is because, in the eyes of the law, the passenger(s) involved in an accident in most circumstances are completely innocent party; this should mean if you chose to go ahead and make a claim for compensation, your claim should be quite straight forward.

If you have a child under the age of eighteen, they will require a Litigation Friend to represent them for the claim; this is usually a parent or guardian who will act on behalf of the child with their best interests in mind. A person under the age of eighteen usually doesn’t have the necessary skills or abilities to deal with such circumstances, so the litigation friend is able to make the claim on their behalf.  For any settlement sum that is recovered for the child, it will be stored in a trust fund held by the court until the victim reaches the age of 18.
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On occasions, incidents occur at school where a young child suffers injuries at no fault of their own. We all know what school is like – it’s a bit of a jungle on the playground – and boys will be boys, and children have their scraps and scrapes. But when does a bit of adolescent innocence turn in to a case of negligence on behalf of the school?

Well, you are probably already aware of this, but all schools have a very clear duty of care to ensure that the students are well looked after and do not come to any harm. If a child is the victim of some kind of defect in the school, perhaps a pothole in the playground or a damaged chair, then the school is obviously liable for any suffering. But what if the incident is involving another pupil; perhaps some kind of a fight or instance of bullying – is the school liable?
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Have you had an accident whilst abroad? Perhaps you are wondering what to do as the accident was caused by no fault of your own; but because you were abroad, you may think it’s difficult to do anything about it. These types of accidents can be a little harder to deal with because different rules and regulations apply to different countries.

If you are looking to perhaps make a claim for compensation as a result of an accident you have had whilst abroad, you may still be able to claim. If the holiday was booked as part of a package through a UK based agency and the accident occurred due to the negligence of a party that is related to the package, then you can claim against the package provider.

For example, if you had an accident in a hotel, for instance you tripped over something that shouldn’t have been left lying around, and the hotel was part of the package you booked, then you could potentially have a claim for compensation against the package provider.
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And “cost” is pretty much the important part of it! Because if you deal with the insurers of the third party directly, it is more than likely it will end up costing you money!

So what do I mean by this? Well, in most instances, I am not implying that insurers will charge you for dealing with them directly in a claim for personal injury by way of a percentage of your damages, or invoicing you. What I mean is that if you go down the route of dealing with third party insurers directly, you are very likely to get less compensation than you are entitled to recover.

So what is this, why is this the case, and what can you do about it? It’s called Third Party Capture!
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