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Road traffic accidents, or RTAs, cover various different types of accidents that involve vehicles on the public highways.

Collisions between cars will usually be dealt with by the drivers’ insurance companies if the crash only caused damage to property. If the accident was more serious and resulted in one or more of the people involved being injured, it will usually be necessary for a personal injury lawyer to get involved.

The most common RTA’s involve collisions between car drivers on the roads. If there are passengers in the car, van, bus or coach who also suffer injuries in a crash, they can claim compensation from the company that insured the vehicle or vehicles that caused the crash as well.  This is even if they are travelling in the car of the driver who was at fault and they are closely related to the driver. This it to make sure that anyone injured in a road accident that was not their fault is fully compensated for their injuries.
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The majority of people out there will make their claim for compensation as a form of financial recompense for having to suffer through long periods of pain and injury. It’s only fair; it’s not nice being injured, and it has an impact on your everyday life both at work and at home. You will also be able to claim back any reasonable losses, such as lost earnings, treatment fees, and travel costs.

So it comes as no surprise that the question on many of our clients’ lips is “when will I get my payout?”

The thing is, the wheels of litigation can often turn quite slowly. Investigations need to be made, evidence needs to be obtained and compiled, and negotiations must take place. Whilst the system we have in England is pretty good for making sure claims are concluded quickly, lots of things need to be done.
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Type ‘lawyers’ into Google and you get about 266,000,000 hits.  Wow!  Type ‘injury lawyers’ into Google and you still come back with over 6 million hits.  Although there are not 6 million law firms in the United Kingdom, there are an awful lot of injury law firms out there ready to assist with your potential claim. 

In many ways this is great because it shows that you do have a good choice of lawyers as it is up to you to decide who you want to instruct to deal with your claim.  However, you must be careful, not all ‘lawyers’ are actually lawyers; more often than not you will come across what are known as Claims Management Companies who will refer your claim to other solicitors. 

At The Injury Lawyers we firmly believe that you should only go through real solicitors who can actually deal with your claim themselves, rather than some random company who will happily pass your details around.  Here is what to look out for:
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The phrase ‘slips and trips’ is often used to describe one of the most common types of personal injury claims.  These accidents can happen at work – for example, if an obstruction has been left in a corridor, liquid has been spilled on the floor, or the surface of the floor is in poor condition. Alternatively, they can also happen in public places such as in the street because of a pothole or uneven paving slab or on private premises where the public have access such as a cinema or supermarket.  

It is also possible to make a claim if you have a slip or trip on private land that is not open to the general public. However, for this type of claim, you must generally have been invited as a visitor onto the land or otherwise have a good reason for being there. An easy example – as a customer in a supermarket.

In both cases, the person or organisation responsible for the land or building has a legal duty to make sure that the area is reasonably safe. Whether the owner has failed to keep the area safe will depend on the circumstances, such as the type of land or building. For example, local authorities have a duty to maintain their pavements to keep them in good condition.
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You may have probably stumbled upon this article because you simply want to know how much your claim could be worth.  You may just be curious as you have now instructed your lawyers to deal with your claim, and you are pondering what your payout could be.

Or – you could be trying to gauge how much the insures of the driver at fault in the accident you were in is going to pay you directly.

Well, if you are dealing with the insurers directly – I have some VERY grave news for you.
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At The Injury Lawyers we are frequently asked about how the compensation claiming process works.  In most parts the claims process is actually quite straightforward; what is better is that with the right lawyer your side they will do all the work for you.  Here is a quick guide to how you accident claim works.

The first thing that is required is to produce a Letter of Claim.  This outlines your accident and why we consider that the Defendant is legally responsible for your injuries and should therefore provide you with compensation.  At The Injury Lawyers we try and get this off to the Defendant as soon as possible to make sure that there are no delays in getting your compensation.  It is therefore extremely helpful if you have all your details along with the accident circumstances, in as much detail as possible, so that your Letter of Claim is thorough and can be sent straightaway. 

The more detail your lawyers have the faster your claim can be settled because the Defendant will be able to investigate your claim without having to seek further information.  When your Letter of Claim is sent the Defendant has a period of 21 days to acknowledge receipt, and then upon this, a further 3 months to investigate your claim.  This is not to say that the Defendant will need these 3 months to investigate, but they are allowed this period of time.  Naturally, the more detailed the Letter of Claim, the faster your claim can be investigated.
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At The Injury Lawyers we welcome the recent announcement that referral fees have been banned.  We believe that this will provide greater transparency within the legal and insurance world and will ensure that the Claimant gets the best possible service.

A referral fee is a fee paid by a solicitor or claims management company to an insurer for the details of those who have been unfortunate enough to have been involved in an accident and sustained injuries as a result.  For example, you have been involved in a road traffic accident and suffered a broken arm through no fault of your own. 

Insurers know you have a claim for compensation and will provide your details to a solicitor or claims management company who is willing to pay between £200 and £1,000 on average for those details.  The reason they will pay such a hefty fee is because they know your claim for compensation has excellent prospects of success and that they can get this referral fee back and more in legal costs when they win your case.  All they have to do is get in touch with you, get you on board, and then win your claim – which is actually quite straightforward.
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Children are involved in accidents every day; whether at school, in the playground, or at home. Quite often this is simply a pure accident that is no one’s fault. However, children can be the victims of other people’s careless behaviour, just the same as adults.

Young people suffer injuries in pretty much the same sort of circumstances that adults do, whether it is as a passenger in a car, tripping or slipping in a public place or because of a faulty product.

Children are more vulnerable than adults and this means that people in situations involving children have to take extra care to ensure that they do not cause harm to children because of their carelessness.  It also means that children can claim compensation in situations where adults could not; for example if a child has an accident because they were not being supervised properly.
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On average, someone in the UK will suffer two broken bones in their lifetime. A fracture is the medical term for a broken bone; but they both mean the same thing.

A broken bone can range from a barely noticeable hairline fracture through to a bone that has been completely snapped into separate pieces. Healthy bones are generally very strong and will actually bend under pressure. But sudden or very forceful impact can cause the bone to fracture. Young children’s bones break more easily because they are still growing, but they will also heal more quickly. Unfortunately, as we get into old age, our bones become more brittle and will break more easily.

Doctors refer to broken bones in a number of different ways depending on the type of break or fracture. The most common include:
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If you have been injured through tripping, slipping or falling on a defect whilst out and about on the highways, whether it’s from tripping on a raised paving slab, or falling down because of a pothole in the road, you are eligible to initiate a claim with the local highways authority of council.

Every stretch of land is under the jurisdiction of a local council or some branch of highways authority; their responsibility is to ensure that all areas within their jurisdiction are regularly inspected and maintained and rectify any defect that may appear.

If you end up injuring yourself because of a defect in the highway, I, unfortunately, have some rather grim news for you. We here at The Injury Lawyers do not like to mollycoddle you when it comes to the serious business of making claims. We tell you straight, right from the start, whether we think you have a good claim or not. In many instances, it’s difficult to tell without some form of investigation with the other side on our Genuine No Win, No Fee basis. But what I can tell you is that making a claim against your local council or a highways authority is a very difficult process.
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