It’s been grey and miserable all weekend where I live; and it’s no better on the return to work on Monday morning. I’ve heard there has been a bit of snow around as well – all this just as I was acclimatising to the slightly warmer temperatures of 5- 8 degree Celsius following the big freeze we have had over the festive period.

The look and feel of the miserable and wet weather isn’t the only thing people need to be concerned with – driving conditions need to be at the forefront of people’s minds on a grey day like today. If you are involved in accident that wasn’t your fault, the weather is not a party to blame. If another vehicle has collided with yours because they failed to appreciate the requirement for an increased stopping distance in wet weather, or they came screeching around a corner or a roundabout too fast and have skidded due to the damp surface or the roads, they are still to blame.

Wet weather is not an excuse one can use to escape being liable to compensate the victim of a road accident. If anything, people should be driving with a great deal more care, and more accidents should be avoided. So if you are the victim – you can make a claim!
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The roads seem to be getting busier all the time.  Not only this, but people’s lives seem to be getting forever busier – people are working harder and trying to still fit in all their usual activities such as the food shopping, hobbies, and catching up with friends. It therefore is no wonder that when the roads are clogged up with drivers with too much on their mind, accidents happen.

A common injury from road traffic accidents is whiplash. This is caused when the neck is jolted to cause movements past the usual range.  Whiplash can not only be felt in road traffic accidents, but also from falls from a height – anything which has this jolting affect.

The symptoms of whiplash are varied. At first you may wonder what the pain is attributable to, as the symptoms don’t usually occur immediately after an accident, but maybe in the following 6-12hours.  The symptoms can then increase in severity for up to a week.  Now I can hear you saying –‘what are these symptoms’.  Many people think whiplash is just in the neck area – and yes, it is correct that the neck can be painful and stiff – but it may also swell and there may be limited or even no mobility in the neck area.  Whiplash can also lead to headaches. In fact, many of our clients report regular migraines as a result of their accident.  The pain in the neck can also radiate down in to the back and the shoulders, and even down in to your arms.
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We all remember school. It is either with fond memories of friends and fun or with memories which we have tried to forget of getting in to trouble and hating homework.

Whatever these memories, we would hope that our children enjoy their time at school and come home safe every night.  We put our trust in schools to protect our children from harm, and on the most part they do.   However, at The Injury Lawyers, we do get many worried parents coming to us to bring claims on behalf of their child.

Now, you may think ‘how can I bring a claim on behalf of my child’. Well, there is a system in place whereby the person bringing the claim is known as a Litigation Friend and takes control of the claim on behalf of the child claimant.  The full in’s and out’s of this system need not be the topic of this blog, and further advice on the subject can be obtained from our team here at The Injury Lawyers (should you require it).
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I read over the weekend that a man has received over £1million in compensation having sustained serious head injuries after being involved in a road traffic accident.  The Oxford Mail reports that Mr Sutton was the passenger in a vehicle which collided with another vehicle back in 2006.  As such, Mr Sutton suffered memory problems, blackouts, depression, and epileptic fits after sustaining a serious head injury.  He subsequently found himself unable to work and has since struggled to find an alternative job.  This recent payout of over a million pounds from the driver’s insurance company can be seen as an attempt to place Mr Sutton in the position he would have been had he not been involved in the road traffic accident and had he not ended up seriously injured.

Road traffic accidents are sadly an everyday occurrence.  It may be a minor crash on our roads where someone gets a small dent in their car, or it may be a much more serious crash where someone ends up very badly hurt.  If you have been involved in a road traffic accident which is not your fault, and you have subsequently suffered an injury, you may be entitled to compensation.  Like Mr Sutton, you should seek expert legal advice from a fully qualified injury lawyer.  However, receiving over a million pounds is in no way a given.  The amount of compensation you receive wholly depends on your injuries, how long these injuries last, and any further losses you have suffered as a direct result of your accident.  In this case Mr Sutton received over a million pounds because of the severity and longevity of his injuries, and the fact that he will need to pay for care for the rest of his life, and also because his future earnings ability has been significantly diminished.

If you have been unlucky enough to have been caught up in a road traffic accident and suffered a personal injury as a result, it is vital that you seek professional advice. At The Injury Lawyers our legal advice is free and so you have absolutely nothing to lose in seeking this independent and quality advice we give.  The Injury Lawyers should be your first port of call for a high quality and speedy service – we are experts in the field of Road Traffic Accidents and will walk you through every stage of your claim, ensuring you obtain the maximum compensation you deserve.

The time after an accident may leave a victim feeling confused and fragile.  So it is no surprise that the chore of looking for a suitable lawyer to take on a personal injury claim seems too much of a hard task.  This is why many people go down the route of Legal Expense Insurance – we are here writing this blog to advise against it.

After an accident, you may be told by your insurer that you have Legal Expense Insurance attached to your policy and this allows you to have legal representation with your personal injury claim at no cost to you.  Now what they say may be true (depending on what agreement you sign), but under most good no win no fee agreements with any good personal injury lawyer, you get representation at no cost to you in any event (again depending on the no win no fee agreement which should be read thoroughly).

Insurers offer this service as it can in allow them to act as a middleman and “sell” your claim to a firm of solicitors by way of a referral fee. In some circumstances, the solicitor your claim is passed over to may simply be the firm paying the highest amount of money to have the case, rather than an independent firm who can provide you with the best service.
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Can I claim for my accident?

After suffering an accident that was not your fault, you may feel fragile and confused.  You may not know what options are available and what these options would cost to you to pursue.  This is why our team here at The Injury Lawyers feel it is necessary to write these blogs – we want to make you confident about your rights to claim for compensation. You may feel that due to your accident happening in a big supermarket for instance that you have no chance in succeeding with a possible claim. Our dedicated team at The Injury Lawyers are here to help – your lawyers are there to fight your corner for your claim.

At The Injury Lawyers we have clients come to us with a whole range of accidents. A few examples of the types of personal injury claims we deal with:

1. Road Traffic Accidents – these are extremely common claims and can range from rear end shunts to head on collisions.  Even if the other driver is uninsured or untraced we can direct your claim to the Motor Insurance Bureau, who will pay out any compensation you are entitled to have.

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It’s a difficult question to answer on its own. There is really only one way to value a claim for compensation – with a specialist expert injury lawyer on your side, and a good quality medical report. Any other method is based on guesswork, statistics, or estimation.

For example – I can tell you that if you have suffered a minor whiplash injury after a road accident, you could claim around £2,500. In fact, you could be entitled to up to £5,000. For a moderate whiplash injury, you could be entitled to up to around £15,000. If you are suffering from a severe whiplash injury, we could get you even more.

How do I know this? The figures are based on statistics, averages, and the JSB Guidelines that are used to assist solicitors during the process of valuing your claim. But realistically, it all depends on your injuries and whether you have a quality injury lawyer representing you for the case.
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We all love to go on a good night out, whether it be to the pub on a Friday night after work, out for a dance with our friends, or for a meal.  We all look forward to this free time where we can socialise, relax, and let our hair down.

It is the last thought on our mind that we may suffer an accident which causes us an injury.  There are many potential hazards on a night out – these can include spillages negligently left uncleaned on the floor, which cause a slip hazard, broken glass negligently left on the floor causing a laceration to the foot or exacerbating a fall injury, or it may be that you have suffered an injury from the venue being filled over capacity.  This is by no means an exhaustive list; if you have suffered any accident that was not your fault then you may have a claim for compensation.

Any venue for a night out, whether it’s a pub, a bar, a restaurant or a night club, has a duty to protect it’s customer as far as is reasonably possible.
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After suffering an accident that was not your fault, you may feel fragile and confused.  This may lead you to think that you do not want the hassle that claiming for a personal injury entails.  Well, we at The Injury Lawyers write these blogs in order to inform and educate you, and thus take the confusion out of the situation.  This blog informs of the procedures surrounding personal injury claims.

The new procedure surrounding personal injury is streamlined and designed to encourage settlement before the case gets to court.  This is because the courts do not wish to be flooded with personal injury claims – plus it’s expensive to take a claim to court in any event.  It is in the Pre- Action Protocol, as set out in the procedure rules governing how a claim progresses, which is where a claim starts.

The Pre-Action Protocol states that a Letter of Claim must be sent to the Defendant; this letter (amongst other items which do not need to be the topic of this blog) must state what the claim is regarding, what the injuries suffered were, and enough further information to allow them to investigate the claim.  The Protocol then gives the Defendant a period of 21 days to acknowledge receipt of the letter.  Most defendants tend to adhere to this deadline and either pass the matter to their solicitors or insurers to deal with.
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Being in an accident and sustaining an injury may lead you to incur financial losses.  For example, you may have to take time off work or fork out on someone to give you a helping hand around your house.  These are what we call ‘losses’, or “Special Damages”.  After all, you may have lost out on some of your wages or you may be out of pocket because you have had to pay for a helping hand.  At The Injury Lawyers we are well aware that these losses are not your fault – they are instead a consequence of your accident and the injuries you have suffered.  Because they are not you fault, and instead the fault of the negligent third party, at The Injury Lawyers we will try and recover these losses so that you do not end up out of pocket through no fault of your own.  So what can you claim for?  Here is a quick guide as to a few of the losses we can attempt to recover for you:

Loss of Earnings

Sometimes your injury will require you to be off work in order for you to recover.  In this time it is likely that you will receive less income than you normally would because you are unable to work.  Depending on the sick pay scheme of your employers, we will make a claim on your behalf for all the loss of earnings you have suffered as a result of your accident.  For example, if you receive £300 a week, and you company paid you sick pay of £150, we will make a claim for that outstanding £150 deficit you have suffered as a result of your accident meaning you could not work.

Care and Assistance

If, as a result of your accident, you have needed care or assistance with all sorts of everyday tasks that you would normally be able to carry out yourself, we are able to make a claim on your behalf for the costs of that care and assistance.  So, for example, if you have had someone in or had a relative to help you with bathing, getting to and from the toilet, general household chores, meal preparation and shopping etc, we can make a claim for these people to be reimbursed for their time.
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