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Public transport has grown in popularity over the recent years as the government has invested a lot of money in improving services to try and divert people away from using cars as much as possible. However, just because you are not in your own vehicle does not mean you won’t be involved in an accident and unfortunately you can find yourself sitting comfortably on a bus and still walking away with an injury.

So who is liable for a bus accident?

If the accident is due to another vehicle being careless then 9 times out of 10 you will pursue a claim against this person as they are at fault for the accident. Therefore, if you are involved in an accident with another vehicle at fault it is important to either obtain the other vehicles details at the scene of the accident (usually just the registration plate is required) or obtain the bus companies details and contact them afterwards to obtain them (or of course the police if the collision has required their attention).
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Claiming for personal injury can be quite a daunting experience for many people, especially if they are suffering from a serious injury that has now changed their lives for the foreseeable future. However, it really isn’t as scary as people may think. I won’t say that it is a simple thing to do as at the end of the day pursuing for compensation is commencing legal proceedings and consequently you do have to keep this in mind. Furthermore, a claim cannot be successful without the Client;s co-operation and therefore although we will do the majority of the work for you, sometimes you will be required to gather evidence, attend appointments and simply help out.

As of July 2013 there are 2 main protocols in place for personal injury claims depending on the type of accident that you have been involved in and the value of that claim. The first is if you have been involved in a road traffic accident, and in this instance your claim will likely proceed through the road traffic accident protocol that was brought in back in 2010. This protocol was put in place to speed up the process of claiming for a road collision. The stages in this protocol are as follows:
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There are commonly two types of compensation available to Claimants of personal injury. These are compensation for (1) General Damages and (2) Special Damages.

How does General Damages differ from Special Damages?

General damages compensates the Claimant with any loss which occurred as a result of the injury. This is straightforward and includes things such as pain and suffering, disadvantage in the labour market and where daily tasks can no longer be carried out. In a settlement the general and special damages are settled by the Claimant (or more likely their solicitor) and the Defendant’s representative to recover the costs. If a settlement is not reached, a court can award general damages by looking at all of the consequences of the case.
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The Work at Height Regulations 2005 made special provisions for working on ladders.

Are ladders banned?

The regulations do not ban ladders but attempt to make the use of them safer.

How are ladders safer than before?

Ladders can only be used at height where your employer has risk assessed it and found that they are low risk and that they will be used in a short amount of time (between 15-30 minutes) or there is a fixing on site which cannot be altered.

The ladders must rest on a surface which must be able to support the ladder. No surface which is likely to move or is unstable is acceptable. The rungs should be horizontal and remain horizontal when in use. Ladders should be placed so that they are stable when being used. Suspended ladders should be secured so the position cannot move and it doesn’t swing.
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I’m not kidding when I tell you that it’s genuinely quite scary that we take on such a huge volume of claims for personal injury compensation caused by people falling and tripping on defective or missing manhole covers. Personally I don’t walk over them in the street. I’m not superstitious – I’ve just seen the extent of the damage that can be caused.

If you are injured because of a missing or defective manhole cover, you may be entitled to make a claim for personal injury compensation. But what about if the manhole cover is on your own property? Can you still make a claim? It all comes down to the circumstances, notice to those responsible, and the duty that is in place to make sure the area is safe.

Rented Property

Starting with a rented property, it’s normally the case that the duty to ensure that the cover is safe will fall with your landlord. They normally have the overriding duty to make sure that the premises is, from a structural perspective, safe to use. So if you injured yourself due to a defective or missing manhole cover on a rented property, you will normally pursue your landlord.
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Even if you have been lucky enough to never have been involved in an accident, you might still get calls and texts from companies claiming that they have now valued your claim and they can tell you exactly how much your claim is worth. But it’s generally worse after you have had an accident because somehow your information gets passed around.

It’s a lucrative business and there are claims management firms and lawyers out there who will not leave you alone until you use their services. They will call, and call, and call, and call, and call, and call etc. Our advice about this is simple – don’t panic, and just ignore them, and block their numbers.

How they get your information

It can be from anywhere. You may have used an online calculator to see how much your claim is worth. All it takes is a name and a phone number and you’re on their system. Perhaps you called a company to ask for some advice and they traced your number and they have passed your details around as well.
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When it comes to settling your claim for personal injury compensation, there are always two pieces of vital advice that we give to people:

1: Dealing with the insurers directly is dangerous and you risk under settling your claim.
2: The first offer that the insurers make will almost certainly be less than what you are owed.

Insurers are, ultimately, private profit making organisations whose duty is to their shareholders. To keep their shareholders happy, they must keep their profit margins high to allow their shareholders to get a good return on their investment. To maintain high profit margins, they have to keep costs down. And the way they keep costs down is by keeping payout amounts to a minimum.
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Contact dermatitis is something that is often suffered by professionals, such as hairdressers, as with the nature of their job, they are required to use their hands all day every day, and are required to come into contact with strong substances such as hair dye and bleach. Therefore, although this blog may seem steered predominantly towards hairdressers, anyone that is required to have their hands in contact with a substance for a pro-longed amount of time may end up suffering with the injury.

So what is contact dermatitis?

Contact dermatitis is a type of eczema that can cause red, itchy and scaly skin, and sometimes burning and stinging. It can lead to your skin becoming blistered, dry and cracked. Of course not a particularly pleasant thing to be suffering from.
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Commonly a manhole cover accident may occur due to the manhole being uncovered, or by the cover being unsecured or damaged.

It may not always be clear who the manhole cover is owned by.  Manhole covers can be owned by local councils, water boards, electricity companies, gas boards and many other type of similar company. Each one of these companies and boards have a duty to protect you from harm, as far as is ‘reasonably practical‘ under S41 of The Highways Act 1980 and under the general scope of the Occupiers Liability Act.

There may be a system of inspection in place by the council or company that owns it to ensure that the manhole cover is maintained and is safe. Inspections may check for any defects and ensure that regular maintenance is carried out. If there are any complaints made about the manhole covers, there is a duty to investigate and to ensure that the defect is rectified.
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The Pre-Action Protocol for Employers’ Liability (EL) and Public Liability (PL) claims was brought into force on 31^st July 2013 and applies to most employer and public liability cases which are valued between £1,000 and £25,000.

What the Protocol aims to Achieve

The Protocol goes into detail about what the court would expect the parties to do before the need to commence court proceedings. The Protocol ensures that the damages for easily resolvable claims are paid within a reasonable time. This avoids a lengthy waiting time to be compensated.
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