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A Concertina Collision is defined as ‘a collision in which vehicle after vehicle hits the one ahead in a sequence of events, triggered by the first car crash‘. Basically, to summarise a concertina collision is an accident involving 3 more or cars, with the first car bumping into the second and forcing it into the one in front, and so on, with a domino type effect.  The collisions often happen very quickly and those driving towards the accident are often unable to slow down in time to avoid further collisions.

Concertina collisions are common in heavy traffic, with someone causing an accident at the back of the traffic, which radiates down the line of traffic. Obviously, if a concertina collision occurred on a motorway, it could be much more serious, as drivers would be unable to stop due to the high speed they were driving at.

Common injuries arising from Concertina Collisions are whiplash and back injuries – which can often be made worse if there are several impacts.
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Whiplash is in an injury to the neck which has normally been caused by a sudden movement. That forceful and sudden movement caused damage to the tendons and ligaments within the neck, resulting in potentially severe pain and discomfort.

Whiplash normally takes 6-12 hours to develop and takes time to become evident. The symptoms suffered usually worsen after the incident and they may continue to get worse for several days or weeks. Whiplash is normally a short–lived condition, and it is uncommon that the symptoms would last longer than 6 months.

Chronic whiplash is often used as a term when whiplash is suffered for a period of 6 months or more; even spanning over years. Chronic whiplash can be a cause of severe pain and may require a course of painkillers or even physiotherapy.
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Despite what insurance companies tell people, they are there to save money – not pay out as much as possible. I can say this with a huge degree of confidence because I see it in action everyday here at The Injury Lawyers HQ and I’ve seen some of the absolutely appalling offers insurers try and fob people off with.

If you are dealing with the insurers directly, and you are looking for some guidelines valuations, I will give you a few breakdowns later on in the blog but heed this massive warning – dealing with the insurers is not a clever way to settle your claim. Yes, you may be able to settle it quicker, but it’s highly likely you are in serious danger of under settling the claim. If I had a pound for every time people had settled directly and then come to a lawyer for help because they feel they’ve under settled, I’d be writing blogs about my worldwide travel escapades on the back of a 164ft yacht.

So what is the maximum whiplash compensation you can get? Is there an upper limit? How much is your claim worth? How much is the average whiplash compensation claim worth? This isn’t something that you can easily estimate…
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Whiplash is one of the most common injuries sustained in road traffic accidents plainly because the action of a hit vehicle is almost always going to throw persons forward and quickly back again – the very motion that creates this type of injury.

Whiplash is a strange injury, in that it is something that doesn’t show itself straight away! You can be absolutely fine the day of the accident and yet wake up the next morning unable to look left and right. Unfortunately, this is just something that happens and is something that a lot of people worry about as medical attention may not be sought until a few days after the collision! However, this is something that occurs in the majority of road traffic cases and therefore should not be something that holds you back from making a whiplash injury claim.

One of the most common questions that we are asked here at The Injury Lawyers is how much is my claim worth?
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Because we are a trusted firm of injury experts who represent thousands of compensation victims throughout the UK, we are often the first point of call for advice after suffering injuries in an accident. When it comes to whiplash, one of the most common things that people say is this:

“At the time, I felt fine. But then a few days later, I started feeling pain”

This is actually extremely common for whiplash injuries. In fact, the majority of people will not normally feel the pain right away. It either starts to make itself known the next day or a few days later. Most people, other than being a little shaken up after the accident, feel physically fine.
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£1,000? £3,000? £10,000? £50,000? – it’s not a very easy question to answer on the face value of things.

The way your claim is valued is by a suitable expert providing a medico-legal report which is then used to value the claim in line with official Judicial Council guidelines and the experience of your lawyer. The severity and longevity of your whiplash injury usually dictates the valuation of the claim.

Generally speaking, the more you suffer, the more we get for you.

I can tell you that the average minor whiplash claim settles for around £2,500, and most people will fall within the minor whiplash category. The official brackets are roughly £1,000 to £5,000.
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A whiplash compensation claim is valued using expert medical evidence from a medico-legal report. It then takes a lawyer to read the report and value the claim using a combination of experience, guidelines, and previous similar cases. So how much is your whiplash claim worth?

Well without seeing a medico-legal report, I can’t tell you! But I will try and help you out with an insight in to the average paid out for a minor whiplash claim.

Most people fall in to the category of a minor whiplash injury. If your doctor or a medical professional who is not doing your medico-legal report tells you it is moderate or severe, then we are likely talking about totally different definitions. A minor whiplash from a personal injury definition could last months or years. So if your doctor has told you that you have a severe whiplash injury, that doesn’t mean you fall within the severe whiplash personal injury category which normally means your claim is worth more than £15,000!
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To answer this question, I first need to tell you that there is no definitive answer. The classification of your whiplash injury in to one of the common categories of minor, moderate, or severe is based entirely on medical evidence.

We send you to see an expert medical consultant who will provide us with a report that details the extent of your suffering. It’s about the severity and longevity of any pain, suffering, and loss of amenity that will dictate which of the categories you fit in to. So as you can appreciate, we can’t tell you what is considered to be a moderate whiplash because it’s all down to medical evidence!
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The best answer is this: straight away!

It is best to start your claim for whiplash personal injury compensation as soon as possible. Here are a number of reasons why:

Better Medical Evidence = Better Valuation?

To value your whiplash claim, we send you to see a medical expert. The expert provides us with a report, and we use the report to value the claim. It doesn’t matter too much if you are fully healed by the time that you see the expert, as a lot of their report is based on a meeting with you and notes from your medical records if they’re applicable. However, if you are still suffering from symptoms when you see the expert, they can comment on this in the examination.

We always aim to arrange a medical appointment as early as possible. It also allows us to assess at an earlier stage what further investigation or possible treatment you may need.
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In our opinion, in is always best to start your whiplash claim sooner rather than later. There are several reasons for this, and I will give you three reasons why you should start your whiplash claim as soon as you possibly can!

Medical Help

In most cases we can normally arrange for private physiotherapy. We can do this right from the outset of the case and arrange for the funding of the treatment so that the other side pays for it at the end of the claim. That way you get access to private medical care when you need it the most – right at the very start of your claim when you are likely to be suffering the most.

Quicker Payment

The quicker you start the whiplash claims process, the quicker you can expect a payout! Whilst this isn’t a strict rule as sometimes you may need to wait a little while to fully heal from your injuries, starting a claim now rather than a year later will normally mean you will get your settlement cheque sooner.
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