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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The clocks moving forward (ugh, an hour gone! But hurray for longer daylight hours!) got me thinking about how fast time moves. It only feels like yesterday since the clocks were being put back in preparation for Christmas. Christmas only feels like two minutes ago! It’s true; as you get older, time flies faster.

This, amongst several other reasons, is why a claim for compensation needs to be pursued sooner rather than later. There are strict time limits for people to claim; you’ve probably heard of the line “have you had an accident in the last three years?” It’s because, in most cases, you only have three years from the date of an accident to bring a claim for compensation.  If you miss this vital deadline, your claim could become statute barred – meaning you cannot continue with a claim or make a claim at all.

You may think three years is a long time; and you may then think you should wait a little while to mull things over. It’s always advisable to have a think about things before going ahead with your claim, but realistically, you should launch your claim as soon as possible.

Why?
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As Spring is now upon us it seems a good time to assess the state of our public highways and the possible hazards which they may pose.

After a harsh winter of snow and frost many of our public highways and roads have been left in a terrible state. It is the action of the freezing and expanding of the ice between cracks on the roads and pavements that causes these increased tripping hazards in the springtime.

In saying the above, it is advisable to get the advice of a specialist personal injury solicitor in dealing with trip claims; especially where they involve the local council as the potential defendant. At The Injury Lawyers we do not like giving false hope and we like to be as honest as possible with our blog readers – so we advise that council claims can be difficult claims to deal with. This being said however, it should not put you off the idea of bringing a potential claim, but simply make you place your claim with a firm who has experience in dealing with these types of cases.
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