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First of all, whiplash is an injury to the neck which is caused by the soft tissue in the neck being stretched and strained after a sudden jolt or movement. It is not just confined to the neck, it can affect the shoulders, back, arms and hands and most of the time can result in headaches.

Therefore, if you are travelling in a vehicle which has unluckily driven into/over a pot hole (and let’s face it, some of them at the moment are large enough to get stuck in), then the jolting movement of the vehicle can jolt your body and more importantly your neck.
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This is something that always seems to worry people when they are considering making a claim – as understandably many people do not like the thought of being put in front of a judge with someone firing questions at them (like you see on the many court dramas on T.V). However, in the majority of civil claims they never get as far as going to court, so there really is no reason that this should deter you from pursuing a claim.

The civil procedure rules – the rules that govern personal injury claims – are specifically designed to stop the need to go to court. They do this through a number of ways with the main one being what is called a Part 36 offer. I will not go into much detail here about these, but they are a good example to show how the rules are designed to deter people from going to court.
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Legal expenses insurance is undoubtedly the biggest scam in the personal injury claims arena!. It involves your insurance company SELLING your details across to a solicitor – and this solicitor will then contact you and run your case (if you confirm with them of course). Many would think that, this has nothing to do with them – so what if they have bought my details – why does that matter to me?

I assure you IT DOES! Nothing causes more frustration here in the office, than when insurance companies and the solicitors involved in this system catch people in their trap.

Under the road traffic accident protocol, solicitors are only able to recover fixed fees. This is relevant because, if your solicitor has already paid a chunk of money to the insurance company for your details (shall we say £1,000 – which is not an uncommon amount), this takes away from the amount of money they have available to them to run your case.
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When you are suffering from an injury as a result of an accident, it is inevitable that you will incur some losses. This can include things such as loss of earnings, medical and treatment expenses but also any items that may have been damaged because of the accident. This last one some may think is only applicable to road traffic accidents as of course cars are inevitably damaged one way or another; but items such as clothing and jewellery are always vulnerable to damage.

However, understandably, there has to be something in place to ensure these losses are not exaggerated and stay in the realm of “reasonableness“. This word is used A LOT in relation to losses and is the main guiding principle when calculating losses. So always think to yourself “Is this reasonable?” when incurring any losses – hiring a supercar rather than the courtesy car offered to you is probably not mitigating your loss (unless your car you’re temporarily replacing happens to be a supercar, because an argument for having like-for-like may be accepted).

So what does “mitigating you losses” mean? Basically, that you must try and keep your losses to a reasonable minimum.
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In short- a big difference! And one that can severely affect the service level you receive during your claim but also the final settlement!

“We have been trying to contact you regarding your accident; we now have details of how much you can claim”

The above is the classic example of correspondence from a claims handling company- it is highly unlikely that this is from a reputable solicitor’s firm. There are some major points that I will address in this blog which hopefully will show that a claims management company is NEVER the best way to go- ALWAYS seek your own solicitor to act on the case for you.
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So what does the term quantum actually mean? Quantum in law essentially means value. Every day we get asked questions along the lines of “How much compensation will I receive?” and “What’s the value of my claim?”

The first point to note is that it’s impossible to value a claim at the outset – any value given by Solicitors at this stage is an approximate – for example if your injury sounds like a general whiplash injury you may hear figures of £1,500 to £2,000 being talked about.

However, in reality, it’s impossible to properly value a claim at the outset as the value of a claim depends on the injuries sustained and the effect of the injuries on the Claimant’s life.
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Although it is never a good idea to get in a vehicle when the driver has been drinking, it does not mean that you cannot make a claim for personal injury if the trip ends in an accident – and let’s be honest, this is more likely than not.

The normal guideline is that as a passenger, you are an innocent party and cannot be at fault for the accident. This therefore entitles you to receive 100% of any compensation that is awarded.

However, getting into a vehicle knowing the driver has been drinking does have consequences for a claim for personal injury. The insurers of the driver of the vehicle will more than likely argue contributory negligence for passengers making a claim for personal injury in these types of circumstances.
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With the lovely weather we have here in the United Kingdom, it is not surprising the amount of potholes that have appeared on the roads and pavements.  As someone who commutes to and from work on a daily basis, I have experienced the far from smooth ride which often involves my car dipping down unexpectedly and rattling my very bones. However, potholes, although annoying, can be dealt with rather easily when in a car and usually do not pose an immediate risk of injury.

This is definitely not the case when you are not in the car, but on foot or a bicycle. Here at The Injury Lawyers we deal with a high volume of personal injury claims that have been caused by someone either tripping over a pothole, or alternatively, riding a bike when the front wheel gets caught and consequently results in the cyclist being thrown from the bike.

It is important to stress that these are not straightforward cases and therefore should not be approached lightly. One of the first things we require to assess is whether we are able to pursue your claim, are photographs are extremely important for this.
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Slowing down, stopping and emergency braking can be hazardous to road users, simply because of the fact that the driver behind could be following too closely or not paying enough attention to what is in front of their vehicle.

The gap between vehicles travelling in average conditions should be at least 2 seconds according to guidelines. This should be enough time for the driver behind to see the brake lights and begin to slow and stop themselves.

The amount of road accident claims that we receive here at The Injury Lawyers involving vehicles being hit from behind, tells us that a very significant number of drivers do NOT follow the two-second rule!
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To begin with, it may be best to consider what a whiplash injury actually is. Whiplash is an injury to the soft tissue in the neck, back and shoulders area where the tissue is stretched and strained after the body is thrown or jerked in a sudden, forceful movement. This is most common in car accidents.

The symptoms of whiplash commonly include pain in the neck, back, shoulders and arms. Other effects include dizziness, nausea and more often headaches. Although whiplash can be quite minor and resolve after a few weeks, more serious circumstances mean that you could be suffering for up to a year.
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