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There is little doubt that we have just faced one of the toughest winters in a long while.  Temperatures were lower than normal and the amount of snow we had was far greater than previous years.  As many of you reading this may well remember, Britain almost closed down for a couple of days at the end of November / start of December due to the severity of the weather conditions.  It was simply either impossible to get to work, or too dangerous to do so.  It was not only businesses that suffered, our roads also suffered from the after effects of these weather conditions.  Water filled into the cracks in our roads and then froze due to the cold temperatures.  What this meant was that when the weather conditions began to improve, the ice began to thaw, and the cracks it had left behind made themselves apparent. Thus – many potholes were born! And it does not appear that we have heard the end of this either.

Your local council is responsible for maintaining their highways.  They owe you a duty of care as a highway user, whether you are a pedestrian or a motorist, to ensure that the roads and pathways are safe to use.  What this has meant is that your councils have faced an uphill struggle to maintain their roads having seen the many number of potholes that have been formed.  Your council has to routinely inspect your roads – say, every three to six months – and where problems are highlighted they have to fix them.  Because of the huge amount of potholes that have cropped up, councils across England have faced a hefty maintenance bill.  In fact, the money spent is so high that the government has had to provide another £100million to help fix the potholes.

At The Injury Lawyers, we are only too aware of the perils of the pothole.  Every week we hear of people who have either damaged their vehicles or injured themselves because of a pothole.  It may be that they have not noticed the pothole, walked into it, and ended up breaking their ankle.  At The Injury Lawyers, because of our years of experience in dealing with pothole claims, we are able to advise people who have sustained an injury as a result of coming into contact with a pothole.
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The Henley Standard has reported that a man has received over £1million in compensation having sustained severe injuries in a road traffic accident which occurred back at the start of 2005. 

It is said that Mr Douglas of South Kensington suffered horrendous injuries to his head; in particular his face and skull, and also to his brain, pelvis and spine after a drunk driver hit him as he was crossing a road near the Natural History Museum on his birthday.  Mr Douglas now faces long-lasting psychological and neurological effects which hinder his ability to get around and even speak.  Immediately after the accident, Mr Douglas spent a week in a coma and a month in intensive care at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital.  Mr Douglas has also undertaken several facial reconstruction attempts over the last six years.  Unsurprisingly, the negligent drunk driver that caused Mr Douglas’s injuries and who has prevented him from being able to work again, was handed a three year driving ban and a £400 fine.

It is not for every road traffic accident that the victim will receive over a £1million in compensation.  The huge sum awarded to Mr Douglas reflected the truly devastating injuries he suffered, the fact that he will not be able to work again, and also the fact that he will require round the clock care for long periods of time.  Mr Douglas was a musician and worked at a law firm; as a result of not being in a position to work, he has suffered a massive loss of earnings.  This demonstrates that it is not purely your injuries that you are able to be compensated for.  There also other ‘heads of damage’ – for instance loss of earnings and care and assistance, which your professional injury lawyers are able to help you make a claim for compensation for.  The purpose of any compensatory award is to put you back in the position you would have been in had you not suffered injuries at the hands of a negligent third party.  So, if you can no longer work because of your injuries, it is possible to make a claim for your loss of earnings.
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You may have noticed recently that there has been a lot of news and focus on potholes.  This has happened for a few reasons.  Firstly, the bad weather we had just before and over Christmas has well and truly destroyed some of our roads.  The freezing temperatures meant that any water that had seeped into the cracks in our roads expanded and created numerous potholes in the surface.  Secondly, as a result of all these potholes cropping up, there have been numerous accidents as a result; for example, people tripping or twisting their ankles in these potholes, and vehicles getting damaged by the trauma of suddenly hitting a pothole at speed.  This has meant that people have been complaining more and more, which has hit the news. 

And thirdly, almost every county council in England released details of the amount of money they had spent on repairing potholes, and the amount of money they had had to pay out as a result of people requiring compensation having sustained injuries at the feet of potholes.  This again made national news, as huge sums had been spent as a consequence of potholes appearing on our roads in large numbers.  It was therefore no surprise to read a further article on potholes in the Hunts Post.  The story relates to the £2.7million that Cambridgeshire County Council have already spent fixing potholes in the first few months of this year.

The Hunts Post reveals that Cambridgeshire County Council have fixed roughly 10,000 potholes up to March this year.  This has come at a cost of £2.7million, of which just over £160,000 relates to compensation claims.  Interestingly, when compared to previous years, this is an increased spend of over 800%.  In March, the Department for Transport has granted a special aid fund for councils in the sum of £100million to help them deal with the financial burdens this particularly tough winter has created by way of potholes.
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It has been recognised throughout the legal world that personal injury claiming as a result of road traffic accidents are on the increase. This is one of the reasons why the system with which solicitors deal with road traffic accidents has changed.  Road traffic accidents that occurred after 30^th April 2011 between a value of £1000 and £10,000 must now be dealt with under a new system. This system is simpler, faster, and much more stream-lined than the old system that was in place. One of the reasons why the system is faster is that everything is completed electronically – therefore making the exchange of documents with the other side instantaneous. The system comprises of 3 stages; each one I will set out below.

The first stage is where the Claim Notification Form is filled out by the Claimant with the help of a solicitor. This form aims to set out all the circumstances of the road accident and is the first item the Defendant will receive with regards to your claim. Within 15 business days of this being sent, the other side should respond with a decision as to whether they admit fault or deny fault.

If fault is admitted on your claim, it proceeds to Stage 2. If liability is denied, it then drops out of the system and it is for your solicitor to assess the prospects of your case, and upon this review, decide whether to proceed with your claim.
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Recently there has been much discussion in the news regarding the state of our highways – this has mostly been about potholes. An article on Sky News states how councils cannot afford to pay the 10 billion pounds needed to get our highways back up to a good state of repair. Furthermore, a report from the Asphalt Industry Alliance states how councils in many instances have been unable to repair potholes caused by the cold weather at the end of 2010 before the cold snap hit again in 2011. So, we can see from the media there is a problem with the state of our highways, and these funding issues may remain for some time. So, it seems like a good time to discuss potential personal injury claims that come as a result of pothole damage.

A pothole can be a tripping hazard to pedestrians, or a hazard to any vehicles driving over them. Vehicles such as motorbikes, mopeds and bicycles are particularly vulnerable when it comes to defects on the road surface; potentially causing catastrophic accidents.

If you have suffered an injury as a result of a pothole, and it was not your fault, then you may have a claim for compensation. It is advisable to get the advice of a specialist personal injury lawyer with pothole related claims, as many of them can be complex.  It can firstly be a complex issue to ascertain who has responsibility for the land – i.e. does the council have responsibility for it? If so, which council? Is it a private owner? Secondly, it can be difficult to actually get the council to admit fault.
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I read today in the Great Yarmouth Mercury that a lady has been awarded over £300,000 in compensation after having to have her leg amputated as a result of a road traffic accident.  It is reported that 27-year-old Emma Woolnough was hit by a motor vehicle driven by an elderly gentlemen.  It is suggested that the negligent driver accidentally used the accelerator instead of the break pedal and ended up mounting the pavement on which Miss Woolnough was a pedestrian. 

Miss Woolnough, who was making her way to work, was forced against a wall as a result of the accident and severely injured her leg.  Consequently, Miss Woolnough suffered horrific injuries and has gone through three unsuccessful operations to save her leg.  Miss Woolnough has also had more surgery and has sustained psychological injuries as a result of the accident.  The negligent driver has since been given a suspended sentence for dangerous driving, fined £2,000.00, and banned from driving for three years.

If you have had a similar experience or indeed have been involved in any kind of road traffic accident which you do not believe to be your fault, or even if you only consider yourself only partly to blame, then it is likely that you may deserve compensation for the injuries you have subsequently sustained. 
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Well we are all too aware of the pesky pot holes that have been appearing in many many streets and main roads across many parts of the UK. A lot of you out there will have become victims to such pot holes, probably causing damage to your vehicle and/or injury to yourself.  

I was reading a news article in the Dumfries and Galloway Standard (18/03/2011) about a women whom was a passenger in a vehicle when the driver drove over a pothole causing the two tyres to burst. To make matters worse, the couple did not have a mobile phone signal so they could not phone for help.

The driver later said that “he spotted a pothole and tried to avoid it but he ended up going through another one that he thought was standing water”
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It was reported in the ‘Daily Mail Online‘ today that a rogue personal injury referral agency has duped £150,000 out of law firms nationwide. The scam involved the referral agency inventing accidents such as car crashes and trip/slip claims and referring them onto as many as 19 law firms from their base in a luxury flat in the city centre of Manchester. The referral agency would get as much as £600 per claim that they sold on. Investigators believe many more law firms fell foul of the tricksters, but were simply too embarrassed to come forward.

The dishonestly reaches even higher levels as it seems one of the group was a former member of the General Medical Council. This meant he had inside knowledge into the personal injury system, and so knew how to dupe it. It even seems that he was able to create doctors notes to back up their invented cases. The group, known as North West Claims, would also forge passports and national insurance numbers in order to support their invented accidents. Only when the law firms attempted to contact the accident victims would they realise it was a scam.

The group were only uncovered by Police when the Border Agency raided the luxury flat in an attempt to combat illegal immigration.  Irfan Manzoor pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud and is now starting a 30 month jail sentence and has been banned from being a company director for 5 years. He had many accomplices who are also beginning lengthy jail sentences.
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The Oxford Mail has reported that a self-employed builder has been awarded over one million pounds in compensation having suffered a horrific injury whilst working on a building site.  It is said that Dean Winstone sustained spinal injuries having tripped and fallen from scaffolding whilst doing up someone’s home back in 2007.  Mr Winston is now paraplegic and requires the use of a wheelchair fulltime.  Mr Winston was in hospital for over a month initially, and has been there back and forth for nearly two years.  Sadly for Mr Winstone he will never be able to work again.

Mr Winstone was awarded £1.25million in compensation this week by a judge in the High Court in London.  This is to help put Mr Winstone back in the position he would have been in had the accident not have occurred.  In other words he was compensated for his terrible spinal injuries and his future loss of earnings that have resulted from him not being able to work again because of the nature of the injuries he suffered. 

In fact, the compensation also takes into account the fact that Mr Winstone will need further medical treatment in the future.  So part of this £1.25million is to help him pay for those future medical costs.  This was necessary because the medical experts that have aided Mr Winstone’s recovery have noted that he is likely to need a greater amount of help in the future owing to the worsening of his condition as he gets older.
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Road traffic accidents have become an increasingly common type of personal injury claim that we see here at The Injury Lawyers. This increase has not only been seen by us, but globally throughout the legal world. This is one of the reasons why a new system has been put in place for accidents which have taken place after 30^th April 2010 and are worth more than £1000 but less than £10,000. This serves to make the process much faster, simpler, and more stream-lined.

The process is a 3 stage system where all information is exchanged electronically by each side of the claim; thus making everything instantaneous. Within Stage 1 of the system the claimant is asked to fill in a Claim Notification Form – this sets out the details of the claim and is the first document the other side will receive.

Once this is received by the other side they have 15 business days within which to make a decision regarding liability (fault) – under the old system the other side had nearly 4 months within which they had to respond. This means that you, the claimant, get those answers much quicker – one of the most difficult parts of claiming can be that wait for answers in order to get your claim concluded.
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