The roads seem to be getting busier and more chaotic than they ever have previously been.   The chaotic nature of the roads, coupled with the fact people seem to be forever rushing somewhere with lots on their minds, means that accidents can be more likely to happen. Driving without the necessary due care and attention can lead to accidents. If you have been involved in an accident and it was not your fault then you may have a claim for compensation.

Many clients who come to us after being in an accident that was not their fault have been diagnosed with, or are suffering from the symptoms of whiplash.

Whiplash is caused by the sudden jolting of the head which results in the tendons and ligaments of the neck being forced to move past their normal range.  Symptoms of whiplash usually occur between 6-12 hours after the accident and then can increase in severity for up to one week (or more). These symptoms can include tenderness, pain and swelling in the neck, or reduced or even no mobility in the neck.  The sufferer may also experience regular headaches which they did not have previous to the accident. The pain in the neck may even radiate to the shoulders and down the back.  More information regarding the symptoms of whiplash can be found at www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Whiplash.
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I think nowadays people are more aware of their rights when it comes to making a personal injury claim. This may be due to an increase of television/radio/web adverts covering personal injury companies and/or the heightened awareness of claiming in general.

However, with this in consideration, many clients when they first approach us here at The Injury Lawyers are unsure whether they have a genuine claim. This is why we write these posts; to inform potential claimants that they may have a proper claim for compensation to make and to not wait until its too late.
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Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI) , which can also be known Work Related Upper Limb Disorder (WRULD) is a general, umbrella term which relates to the pain suffered from the overuse and repetitive use of muscles, tendons and nerves.  It is reported that 1 worker out of 50 in the UK has reported an RSI injury. It is workers whose careers involve the use of computers or some sort of manual work who are most likely to suffer from a RSI.

There are two types of RSI – Type 1 and Type 2. Type 1 is where the doctor can diagnose a recognised medical condition, such as Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, as there is usually some kind of swelling or inflammation.  With Type 2, the doctor is unable to diagnose a medical condition as there is no obvious swelling but the sufferer is reporting pain in the affected area.  Symptoms can vary but can include cramping, swelling, pain, or tenderness in muscles or joints, throbbing and/ or tingling and numbness.

Employers in the UK are under a legal obligation to prevent incidents of RSI wherever reasonably possible; this is through the Safety Act of 1974 and the Safety at Work Regulations 1999.  If you think you are suffering from an RSI as a result of your occupation, then you may have a claim for compensation. A particular RSI case comes to mind whereby an RAF data input clerk aged in her 20’s sued the Ministry of Defence for her RSI injury which stemmed from her occupation. The clerk suffered the RSI in her thumb and was unable to continue full time work in her current employment – the clerk received £434,000 in compensation for her injury.
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Some of us love work, and some of us dread going into work. But I would probably guess that not many of us anticipate having an accident at work which is not our fault.

There are many potential accidents that could happen at work.  Some of the main types of accidents we deal with here at The Injury Lawyers involve falling from a height, heavy lifting, industrial disease (such as Vibration White Finger), a lack of/insufficient work equipment which results in an accident, or a lack of/insufficient safety equipment which results in a lack of protection from a foreseeable hazard – leading to an accident.

It can be a mentally difficult task to claim against your employer. However, it must be bourne in mind that solicitors are here to act on your behalf, and employers must have insurance to cover these types of situations.  If you have had an injury and it was your employers fault then you have a right to bring a claim for compensation if you so wish and you should not be treated adversely whilst at work due to your claim. In fact, there is nothing your employer can legally do to adversely affect your employment, and we find that many employers are happy for you to make a claim from the insurance policy they have in place for this very reason.
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A lot of people are concerned and confused when it comes to thinking about making a claim – particularly in accidents involving slips and trips. I suppose the reason is that many people simply aren’t sure whether they can make a claim after being involved in a slip or trip accident. Furthermore, people genuinely feel a little “silly” about making a claim for such a seemingly “small” accident.

It’s better to approach the entire situation in a different way: your slip / trip accident is not in any way “silly” or “small” – particularly if you have been seriously hurt. At the end of the day, if you have been injured due to someone else’s negligence, you have a claim for compensation.

Any shop, restaurant, cafe, bar, club, pub, museum – any premises which you are allowed to freely access – involves a duty of care owed to you by the owners of the place you are in. The premises must be safe to use, and no hazards should be allowed to develop and endanger anyone in the area. It’s an obvious and sensible piece of legislation – without this important duty of care in place, no one would be responsible for preventing anyone from coming to harm.
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It would appear that people like you and me have become so fed up with potholes that we are taking things into our own hands and attempting to repair them ourselves.  According to BBC News a series of websites have been set up to combat potholes.  For example, Potholes.co.uk details the locations of potholes and has links people can use to help notify the council of the potholes.  Such is the craze on this website that there was even a poem competition dedicated to potholes! And here is the winning poem:

‘When almost dusk and light turns grey, potholes greedily grasp their prey’.

The BBC news also reports that the website FillThatHole has seen its users report nearly 50,000 potholes, and as a result, nearly 15,000 of these have been fixed.  Granted, this is some way short of all the potholes being fixed; but it is something and can go a long way to ensuring that people do not get injured or damage their vehicles as a result of these potholes.  And further, as a FillThatHole spokesman has commented, ‘it places extra onus on councils to fix the problem because it is in the public domain’.  In other words, the council know about the problem and should adhere to their duty to ensure the safety of its highway users and get it fixed ASAP.
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Given our extensive experience in dealing with road accident claims successfully, you come to appreciate more and more just how easy it is to end up in an accident. In fact, I personally notice potential hazards on the roads better than I used to having given advice and taken on the claims of countless victims in road accidents.

I also find that the law of averages, for some unknown reason, often applies to any near misses I’m involved in. I recall a few months ago I was almost a victim of 4 road accidents in one week alone! Well, it’s happened again the other day – I had two near misses in just one night, which really shows how easy it is to become a victim of a road accident!

My experiences the other night were, funnily enough, both similar in circumstance; and it got me thinking about an important area of road regulation: Lanes! Unfortunately, it seems there are still some drivers out there that do not appreciate the importance of changing and merging lanes safely:
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Now, you may think – what does the above title mean when it says ‘losses’.  Well, for any personal injury claim there is compensation amount that can be awarded for your injury, and there is a separate claim for your losses.  These losses are applied for separately to your injury compensation and are compiled in a Schedule of Loss. It is important that from the outset after your accident that you keep any receipts for costs that have been incurred as a result of your accident. This helps to support and evidence any losses claimed for a potential personal injury claim.

The items of loss which can be included in this Schedule of Loss I have listed below:

1. Loss of Earnings – this can be one of the most important items in a claimant’s schedule.   If you are employed/self -employed and have had time off work due to your accident then you may be entitled to claim for this item of loss. If you are an employed person then a solicitor would usually ask for 13 weeks of pay slips prior to the accident.  Your loss of earning is then calculated at an average of these wage slips.  If you are self – employed, a solicitor would usually ask you for 3 years profit and loss accounts and calculate the average this way.

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I would hazard a guess that most people are aware that driving without insurance is illegal.  However, we have many clients that come to us at The Injury Lawyers after being hit by an uninsured driver.  It can be a particular point of frustration for an accident victim that the driver who caused them to have an accident has been driving without the insurance; something which most of us have the burden of paying monthly or annually. It has been quoted that on average 23,000 people are injured and 160 people are killed after being involved in an accident with an uninsured driver.

Many of our clients are not only involved in accidents with uninsured drivers, but also with untraced drivers.  This again can be a point of anger and frustration for an accident victim that they have been involved in an accident, that was not their fault, whilst the driver at fault has fled the scene of the accident without the potential claimant being able to gain their contact/insurance details, and without being able to take note of a registration plate.  A recent news article brings this topic of untraced drivers to the forefront as it details an accident which took place on the M3 near Camberley where a man sadly died at the scene whilst another of the cars involved fled the scene.

The first question many of our clients ask after being involved in an accident with an uninsured or untraced driver is: ‘can I still claim?’  The answer to this is ‘yes’. Any claims with uninsured or untraced drivers can be dealt with through the Motor Insurers Bureau, or the MIB as they are more commonly known.  The MIB was formed in 1946 and is funded by motor insurance companies.  Ultimately the MIB is funded through a portion of what we pay for our motor insurance premium. The cost to us can be calculated at between £15 – £30 per policy.
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There are many questions you might ask when it comes to making a claim for compensation:

• Do I have a claim?
• How much am I entitled to claim for?
• When should I make the claim?
• Who should I instruct to deal with my claim?

There can be many more questions as well – it’s a confusing time after an accident to know exactly what to do. So, here’s a little advice that may just help you out!
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