A story reported yesterday (30th June 2010) on the BBC News Website (source) about a young girl who has been crushed to death by an electrical gate in Manchester.

The 6 year old girl, named as Miss Semelia Campbell became trapped between a brick post and the wrought iron gate at around 7.30pm on Monday on the Lowry Estate in Moss Side, Manchester. Her Mother, Ms Judith Gilroy, watched on helplessly after the key fob she had failed to stop the gate moving and, although she also later switched off the electricity, she was unable to save her.

A police officer who rushed to the scene eventually managed to pull her out after he smashed the motor but she had already gone into cardiac arrest. She was rushed to Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital but tragically she died a short time later.
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If you have been renting a property and have had some sort of accident due to something being unsafe in the property then you may have a potential claim for compensation. Landlords are required to ensure that their properties are safely equipped before making them available to rent.

There are many cases each year where occupants have had an accident due to unsafe living conditions, some of the cases have been very dangerous and sometimes, even after the tenant have informed the Landlord of the problem, the Landlord makes no attempt to rectify the problem resulting in injury.

If you feel that something could have been done to avoid your accident and you wish to take the matter further, you should, first of all, record all the details of the incident. Try to do this soon after the incident so that everything is still fresh in your mind. Try to include: Exactly what happened, what lead to the incident, what caused the incident, how it has affected you, what your injuries are. If possible take photographs of the defect item and of any visible injuries. These can be used as significant pieces of evidence.
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A lot of people don’t realise this, but certain regulations have to be followed in relation to hair colouring. People may think, “oh everyone gets their hair coloured, it won’t fall out it’ll be fine”. This could be the reason so many women unfortunately end up looking like this unfortunate lady (right).

As reported in the Re’Voil Hair & Beauty News Blog, the woman (in the picture) was immediately rushed to hospital as she was left temporary blind after a severe allergic reaction to hair dye. That’s right, this woman’s blindness was caused by hair dye!

Even more shockingly this woman also did carry out the 48 hour skin test a few days prior to this incident and had no reaction which led her to believe that this product was safe to use.
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This may sound crazy, but it is 100% true. More than 150 people a day are stabbing themselves when trying to open a ready meal packet or trying to open a stiff food jar using a knife. This was noted by a survey done by ‘Your Magazine’ which gave the questionnaire to more than 20,000 over 50’s.

The problems caused by trying to unwrap food have been referred to as “wrap rage”.

The terrible tea pot cosy- believe it or not, thousands of people have been injured by attempting to pick up the tea pot by the cover rather than by the handle. This has lead to severe burns and scalding.

Even more amazingly the Home Accident Surveillance System last year got figures of 5,310 people being injured whilst putting on their socks, 11,788 people taken to hospital whilst putting on their tights or stockings.
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The parents of two year old twins have begun legal action against a petting farm after their children became seriously ill from contracting E.coli from Godstone Farm, Surrey, in August 2009 – and they are seeking compensation for personal injury.The incident was reported last year, with the twins being just 2 victims of a total of 93 who became infected after the outbreak at Godstone last year. 76 where children under the age of ten.

The twins, Aaron and Todd Mock, who were infected after visiting the petting farm on a school trip, were 2 of the most seriously affected, and had to spend weeks in hospital after suffering from kidney failure.

The legal action against the farm follows the release of a report into the outbreak which revealed that the Health Protection Agency (HPA) failed to take appropriate action to reduce and contain the outbreak. This failure and the lack of action by the HPA lead to the farm remaining open throughout the bank holiday weekend, during which they had over 5000 visitors, despite the fact that they were aware of a number of cases of the bug.
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Police in Edinburgh are appealing for witnesses after an accident on 15^th June in which a female cyclist was left with multiple injuries after being hit by a driver who failed to stop and fled the scene.

The accident happened at approximately 8.30am on Dalmeny Street, Edinburgh and a number of people stopped to assist the woman. Police have so far interviewed a number of witnesses but as yet have been unable to obtain enough information to allow them to trace the driver who was believed to have been driving a greyish-blue car.

A Sergeant with Edinburgh Police released a statement asking for any further witnesses to come forward to assist them with getting to the bottom of what happened. He also stated that “of course we want to speak to the driver of the car who we urge to make himself known to the police. If the driver has done nothing wrong and was just on their way to work or school we will get to the bottom of it. They may not even have realised they were involved”. (source)
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Taxi’s are a popular form of transport in today’s society, people often choose taxi’s to avoid the hustle and bustle experienced on public transport. What most people don’t expect to happen is to be caught up in a road traffic accident whilst as a passenger in a taxi. I would think that many people are shocked and frightened to be involved in an accident at all. You may wonder if there is anything you can actually after a taxi accident, if you experienced some type of loss and/or injury.

Well depending on the circumstances and your injuries, you may have a potential claim for compensation. As a passenger in a vehicle, if you didn’t contribute to the accident in any way, you are seen as an innocent party in the eyes of the law. This, in theory should make your claim for compensation fairly straight forward as their will be no argument over liability.
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The NHS has been asked to make efforts to reduce costs as new treatments and an ageing population are raising costs. The government has said that the front line services must be protected whilst cuts are being made. A Chairman of the British Medical Association (BMA), Dr. Hamish Meldrum, has reported that evidence proves that jobs are being lost and some services are restricted as a result of the cost cuts.

Dr Meldrum reportedly said that he understood that cuts needed to be made, however he said that he was concerned at how the early cuts were being made, as doctors were not being consulted with regards to these matters. The NHS is one area of public spending who will not see its budget cut, however the NHS is still being asked to save on spending as the price of drugs increase, a ageing population and obesity.
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If you have been attacked by another person in an unprovoked act of violence, you may have a potential claim for compensation.

Depending on the circumstances of the incident it may be worthwhile you looking into the matter of claiming for compensation. If you have been attacked as an obvious attempt of violence, such as being assaulted on a night out, or if someone has thrown an object at you and the incident was unprovoked, you should consider placing a claim.

If you do decide to place a claim, your claim will go through the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority (CICA); a government body that pays out for injuries sustained as a result of an act of violence from another person.
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It’s probably the most asked question we at The Injury Lawyers hear when we take on a new case – and it’s perfectly understandable for people to be asking it. So, here’s a quick insight in to the costs of claiming; you may be pleasantly surprised at the answer…

No Win No Fee

Ever heard of this term before? It’s quite a common one we injury lawyers talk about! Most No Win No Fee agreements such as ours (I say most, because not all law firms out there work the same us) do exactly what they say on the tin! If the claim is lost, the claimant is not charged for the solicitors work. So who pays us? The answer is – no one!
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