I myself drive long distances on a daily basis – and when I say long distances, I mean a 70 mile round trip to work every day. This daily trip serves to remind me of the dangers of the road. My trip comprises mainly of going up and down the MI motorway. Accident hotspots on motorways can be the areas around junctions where traffic is meeting. This is similar to accident hotspots on any road where traffic meets at roundabouts, junctions, and where traffic is generally merging.

Injuries

A more common injury we see here at The Injury Lawyers as a result of a road accident is whiplash. Whiplash is a condition which can be greatly undermined, as it is mostly invisible to the naked eye – unlike a laceration or a broken bone. At The Injury Lawyers, however, we treat whiplash with the utmost seriousness as we know the severe pain it causes as well as the devastating effect it can have on people’s lives. Whiplash is an extremely unpredictable condition – a doctor may say you will recover in 3 months, but 1 year down the line you are still in pain. This is why it is advisable to gain the advice of a specialist personal injury lawyer.  A good lawyer will normally not advise you to settle your claim before you have recovered for this very reason – if your settlement is based on a recovery period of 3 months, but you are still suffering in 1 year – you may have greatly undervalued your claim.
Read More

The Daily Mail has today reported that an elderly lady, Audrey King, of 70 years, is seeking compensation having sustained injuries having been involved in a collision with a mobility scooter.  It is stated that Ms King was out shopping with a friend when a mobility scooter drover into her.  As a result of this accident, Ms King suffered a broken hip and a serious fracture to her thigh bone.  According to the Daily Mail, the negligent driver of the mobility scooter got her coat stuck in the mobility, she lost focus, and subsequently drove into Ms King. 

One of the interesting points of this case is that mobility scooters do not require insurance as they are not considered ‘motor vehicles’.  As such, Ms King could not pursue compensation against the negligent driver’s insurance; something she would have been able to do had she have been in a road traffic accident. Instead, she has had to pursue the negligent driver who may not be worth suing.  It is not surprising therefore that Ms King has called for the law to be changed in respect of mobility scooters and their lack of need for insurance.

Ms King states that she was in ‘agonising pain’ after the accident.  She had to stay in hospital for almost an entire week, has had to have an operation on her hip to ensure that she was able to return home, and now requires a walking aid, and has had to use painkillers for approximately six weeks.  Ms King now requires care and assistance around her home.  Should a claim for compensation be successful, it is expected that the compensation would cover her injuries and any other losses that Ms King sustained subsequent to the accident.  That is, because she has needed care and assistance and may continue to do so for some time, a compensatory award could take this into account.  This would be to cover any expenditure she has incurred in having to get this help in.
Read More

Whiplash is one of those conditions that is not so plain to see but can cause the sufferer severe pain for lengthy periods of time. It is a common misconception that the condition is based solely in the neck area; in reality, this can be very different as I will explain below.

Symptoms

The symptoms of whiplash can vary greatly from person to person:

• Pain, stiffness, swelling around the neck, back, and shoulders.
• Pain may radiate to the shoulders or down the back
• Headaches which can be severe and recurrent

Read More

I read today in The Shields Gazette that a police offer is seeking compensation from the Northumbria police after it was alleged that a faulty police vehicle caused Pc Christopher Pearson to be involved in a serious road traffic accident back in August 2006. 

It is reported that Pc Pearson lost control of his police car which caused him to hit a kerb and a barrier which caused the police car to roll over a staggering six times.  As a result of this major accident, Pc Pearson was lucky to only escape with whiplash, an injury to his back, and his knee.  Unfortunately, Pc Pearson was not the only person to be caught up in this incident.  His partner, Pc Emma Wilkinson, a passenger in the vehicle, also suffered injuries.  Pc Wilkinson has yet to return to work – and, approaching five years after the accident, Pc Pearson has only returned on limited duties.

Pc Pearson contends that a bald tyre and some loose fittings around one of the police cars’ wheels caused him to lose control of the vehicle.  The police officers, who were pursuing a suspect at the time, came off the road at a bend.  Pc Pearson states that ‘As we started to leave the bend I could see the road straightening up, and at that point in time the vehicle should have been moving in that straight line, but the vehicle itself, rather than going straight, seemed to be going.  The front near side at that point then hit the kerb…I could not understand why the vehicle was going in that direction.’  In essence, Pc Pearson suggests that the car was defective, and as such this caused the crash.  Northumbria police have so far denied liability.
Read More

Sport is big part of a lot of people’s lives.  Football is probably England’s most popular sport – on a Sunday in particular, a lot of people go to their local playing fields to compete against each other in regional league matches.  Even if people aren’t playing sport, they are watching it or reading about it.  There are numerous channels on television which are dedicated to sport, and even the channels we find on freeview for example have a substantial content which focuses on sport or showing sporting events.  In the newspapers, the back pages are dedicated to sport, and some papers even have dedicated sporting pullout pages. 

There can be little doubt that sport is massive in England, and there are a lot of people who are in someway involved in sport; whether that it through direct participation or alternatively a keen interest.

For those who play sport, you will be all too familiar with the fact that injuries do occur while you are participating.  Some are minor and go away quickly, whilst others are worse and may require you to have a number of weeks, or even months on the ‘sidelines’.  In most cases these injuries will occur by chance and will not involve an interaction with any third party.  But: what if you suffer an injury because of someone else?  Even if this injury is caused by accident, can you still make a claim for compensation?
Read More

There can be many potential hazards at work – these hazards should be minimised by your employers. Your employer may put in place training policies, checks, and inspections in order to minimise risks to your health and safety.

If you had an accident at work that was not your fault, you may have a claim for compensation. Employers have a duty to protect their staff as far as is reasonably possible from risks to their health and safety.

Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)
Read More

I envisage that there are many potential accident claims out there that are going by unclaimed.  One reason I can see for this is that people may feel it will be too much hassle to start a claim after what may have been a traumatic accident.

Well, I am here to tell you the opposite (so long as you get the right lawyer). Personal injury claiming with the right lawyer on board can be a simple process with as little hassle for you as possible. At The Injury Lawyers, we find the most stress is caused to clients when they do not know what is happening with their claim; this is why we have a policy of updating our clients every two weeks, whether something has happened or not. This not only makes sure our client is kept in the loop, but also that their claim is checked and worked on, on a regular basis.

When you start a claim there is a high chance it will come under the Pre-action Protocol for Personal Injury. This system encourages claims to settle at the earliest stage possible – i.e. before going to court – thus making the process easier on the Claimant and giving more transparency between both sides at the outset. To comply with this system, a Letter of Claim will be drafted giving a full description of your accident circumstances. Once this letter is sent to the Defendant, the clock begins to run; giving the other side 21 days to acknowledge the letter, and a further three months to investigate (normally through their insurers, solicitors, or claims representatives).
Read More

I am guessing that after an accident you may feel fragile and not up to the task of choosing which injury lawyer to take your claim. Well, this is why we write these informative blogs – to educate and hopefully relieve the stress of being sat for hours in front of the internet assessing the pro’s and con’s of a multitude of personal injury lawyers.

When looking for a personal injury lawyer, there are a few things that you should look out for:

1. 100% of your compensation: you should not accept anything less than your full amount of compensation. Compensation is meant to put you in the position you would have been in had the accident never have happened – if a portion of what you are entitled to is taken away, you are losing out.

Read More

Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI) can also be known as Work Related Upper Limb Disorder. It is a general term which can cover a whole range of injuries that are due to repetitive use of a particular part of your body.

RSI’s are reported by as many as 1 in 50 workers around the UK. This large statistic is no wonder when you consider the amount of office based jobs in the UK. It is workers who are predominantly computer based, as well as manual workers, who are most likely to suffer from RSI’s.

There are two types of RSI injury. Type 1 is where a doctor can diagnose a particular injury, such as Bursitis (the inflammation of a fluid sac near a joint on the shoulder, knee or elbow). Type 2 is where a doctor cannot make an accurate diagnosis of a particular condition, but it is plain to see that the patient is suffering and that there may be some swelling.
Read More

OK – so you are a UK resident, and you unfortunately end up injured abroad whilst you were on your jollies or away on a business trip. The accident wasn’t your fault – you’re injured, upset, inconvenienced, and have lost out financially. What do you do?

You may still be able to have a claim using an English lawyer

In most generic circumstances, if you have an accident abroad, you will need to speak to a foreign lawyer or a UK based foreign law specialist about a claim. Foreign laws are different, and it’s a problem for most firms because of the differences in jurisdiction.
Read More