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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Supermarkets of one of those necessary hassles of modern life.  Back when I was young there were not some many of these and people would spend maybe a couple of hours going from their bakery, to their butcher, and to their fishmonger. Now it seems the modern fast paced lives of today demand everything under one roof and with lots of choice and convenience.

Saying this, many people love the convenience the supermarket offers – many however would not anticipate having an accident in one which was not their fault. Many clients come to us at The Injury Lawyers after suffering an accident in a supermarket; these accidents can range from a slip on a spillage to a trip on an item negligently left in an aisle or an item falling on them from a poorly stacked shelf. Whatever the accident, as long as it was not your fault and it has caused you an injury, you may have a claim for compensation.

If you have an accident in a supermarket it is advisable to report it as they may need to place a note of it in their accident book. This entry in the accident book can also serve as evidence that the accident did actually take place.  Although it is advisable to report the accident, this allows the Defendant to be put on notice of the accident, so to speak. Shortly after the accident, many of our clients have then been approached by the supermarkets with a goodwill gesture of money or vouchers. This can end up with a Third Party Capture situation whereby the Defendant may be attempting to settle your claim on a full and final basis before it goes any further and you instruct a solicitor to begin a personal injury claim. If you accept this offer you may be settling any potential claim you have; you would not be able to make any further claim. Without legal advice you do not know what your potential claim is worth, and so by accepting this early (and often small) offer, you may be under valuing your claim.
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If you have been unlucky enough to have had a road traffic accident which was not your fault and you have ended up being injured in this accident, in all likelihood you will be entitled to compensation.  Do not fear then if you have been involved in a road traffic accident whereby the other negligent driver was uninsured or did a runner.  You are still able to make a claim for compensation! This is because of an organisation called the Motor Insurers’ Bureau. 

This organisation has been set up so that those victims of road traffic accidents where the other party is uninsured and untraced and who have sustained an injury do not lose out on the compensation they would be able to obtain had the other negligent driver stuck around or had insurance.  So, if you are one of the 23,000 unfortunate people a year who are the victims of uninsured or untraced drivers, it is important that you are aware that you are still able to make a claim for compensation – This entitlement does not disappear.  Please do get in touch with a quality personal injury lawyer who will be able to provide you with some free legal advice and make sure that you get that maximum compensation you deserve.

Because the other negligent driver does not have insurance or has decided not to do the right thing and stick around does not mean that you are to be left uncompensated.  I am not sure many of you will know this, but roughly £15-30 of each person’s vehicle insurance premium goes go an organisation called the Motor Insurers’ Bureau (‘MIB’).  With this money, the MIB are able to pay the compensation you deserve if you have been the unfortunate victim of a road traffic accident out of which you sustained an injury.
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I have quite a lengthy commute from home to work every day – when I say lengthy I mean approximately a 70 mile round trip! So I can say that I witness a fair few near misses with accidents and also unfortunately see many not so near misses. Going up and down the M1 every day means that I can see the aftermath of some serious accidents.

We hope that our car journey goes safely and uneventfully; and on the most part they do. At The Injury Lawyers however we do have contact with many people who have been involved in road accidents that have been through no fault of their own and have caused them injury.

There are many do’s and dont’s when it comes to road traffic accidents and claiming for compensation:
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I hear some scary stories about No Win No Fee agreements; largely from accident victims who have heard them down the grapevine. It all places a significant amount of mistrust in lawyers from accident victims, and unfortunately victims are quick to accept what other people and insurance companies tell them.

So – here are some of the myth statements I have heard from people, together with the real explanation:

“If your claim loses under a No Win No Fee agreement, you still have to pay the insurance fees to your solicitor, or pay out for your own policy of insurance to cover any fees you may be liable for” – FALSE
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Did you know that if you have been involved in an accident that was not your fault you may be entitled to compensation? I would say that most of you are aware of this given that there has been a lot of advertising on this matter in recent times.  However, are you aware that the compensation that you could be awarded does not solely relate to the injuries you have suffered? I would hazard a guess that most are probably unaware of this.  The reality is that if you have been involved in an accident that was not your fault, you are entitled to make a claim for compensation to cover ALL of your losses.

What do I mean by all of your losses? Well, here is a very quick example – if you have had to take time off work because of your accident, it may be that you have only been paid statutory sick pay and that you have lost out on a certain amount of wages. Your lawyers can make a claim for this loss of earnings to make sure that you are put back in the position you would have been in had the accident not have occurred.  So what else can a claim for compensation incorporate?  Here is a quick guide:

Loss of earnings
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I read this evening in the Edinburgh News that an oil worker has been awarded £160,000 in compensation having been involved in an accident whilst working on an oil rig in the North Sea. 

It is reported that Mr Martin Brand had to have two of his fingers partially amputated following his hand being crushed when he was cleaning some pipes and some hydraulic slips unexpectedly moved back in May 2006.  Most of this compensation was awarded on the basis that Mr Brand was disadvantaged on the open labour market.  So what do we mean by this?
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Work accidents can come in all shapes and sizes – you may have fallen from a height, suffered a laceration on your finger due to a lack of protective gloves, or simply tripped in an area where there were no warning signs notifying you of a hazard.

The focus of this blog however is on a certain type of industrial disease known as Vibration White Finger also known as Hand Arm Vibration Syndrome due to the increased awareness of the variety of symptoms a sufferer can experience.

A sufferer may not just get the ‘white finger‘ so to speak, they may also suffer from cold sensations and/or tingling in the fingers, numbness in the fingers, or even a general aching feeling extending throughout the fingers and hands and further up the arms. In more extreme cases sufferers have reported a complete loss of feeling in their finger(s) which may extend up the hand and further up the arm. It’s important to note that different people will experience different symptoms with an increased or decreased severity.
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Completing a personal injury claim may be seen as two-pronged. On the one hand you have your claim for your injury compensation to which any good injury lawyer would advise you an approximate value. On the other hand you have you losses. Now, you may wonder – ‘what am I talking about’, and think that your claim was just for compensation. Well, succeeding in a personal injury claim is meant to put you in the position you would have been in had you never have suffered the accident. Therefore, if we did not include in that claim any loss of earnings you had suffered, or all the travel costs you had incurred as a result of the accident, you would still be worse off.

Therefore, any financial losses you incur as a result of the accident will be compiled in a document known as a Schedule of Loss. This document will not contain a valuation for your injury compensation because, as I said, it can be seen as two-pronged; so the compensation part is claimed separately.

Below I have listed some of the more common items of loss which you may see on a Schedule of Loss:
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Having an accident at work can be a traumatic event. Whether you have a love for your work and relish the idea of going in everyday, or whether you dislike your work to the point where you dread it – I can hazard a guess that no-one anticipates having an accident that was not their fault.

A first point to note – I say first as it can be the first point a client mentions when they report a potential claim against their employer to us – is that an employer is not allowed to treat you any differently due to you placing a claim against them. At The Injury Lawyers we know and appreciate how mentally challenging it can be to begin a claim against your employer –  but that is why we are here to act on your behalf. Employers should have insurance policies in place to cover them for these types of scenarios and many employers would be happy to compensate an employee who has had an accident which was the fault of the employer.

In beginning a claim against your employer you should seek out a specialist personal injury lawyer from whom you can gain advice – this should be done as soon as possible while the events are fresh in your mind. Many law firms like The Injury Lawyers will give free claim assessments so there is nothing to lose by simply trying and finding out some information.
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