Claiming for injury compensation from road traffic accidents is dead easy; especially since a new system was introduced in April 2010 which made the process faster and less complicated.
Nowadays you can get the other side to admit liability in 3 or so weeks and once that’s done it’s just a matter of getting medical evidence and settling your claim which doesn’t take that long either.
The first stage of the new process is to submit a Claim Notification Form. This a simple form which just details what happened in your accident and names the people and vehicles involved. It gets submitted online via the Ministry of Justice portal and the Defendant then has just 1 business day to acknowledge it and then a further 15 business days to admit or deny liability.
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If I was given just a penny for each time I was asked how much someone’s whiplash claim was worth, I would be a very rich man! (Well, almost!). It is one of the most common, if not the most common, questions we get asked at The Injury Lawyers.
In the vast majority of whiplash claims we deal with, the innocent victim has been involved in a straightforward accident; say someone has driven into the back of their car, or hit them head on or pulled out of a side road into them.
These are claims where it should be easy to get an admission from the Defendant because it was clearly their fault and you would have thought that the amount of compensation people get will be similar. Thing is, whiplash is a funny old injury that affects people in different ways, so the amount of compensation can differ a lot.
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At The Injury Lawyers, we are expert injury lawyers having successfully dealt with thousands of personal injury claims over the last few years. As such we know that whiplash is one of, if not the most, common injuries to come out of a road traffic accident. We also realise that although people have heard of whiplash, they are not entirely sure what whiplash is and whether they are suffering from it. Here’s a little guide:
What is whiplash?
Whiplash is a soft tissue injury that affects your head, neck, shoulder, and back area. It is where you strain the muscles and tendons in these parts.
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If you have been in a road traffic accident with an uninsured driver which was not your fault, you can be compensated for any injuries you have picked up.
Usually, it would be a matter of making a claim through the negligent drivers’ insurance company, but in this case the driver didn’t have insurance. Not to worry, because back in 1946 the Motor Insurers’ Bureau was set up to deal with claims for compensation arising from the negligence of uninsured drivers.
In most cases it will be best to go through the Motor Insurers’ Bureau because the Defendant themselves is unlikely to be worth personally suing; in other words, they aren’t likely to have the money to pay your compensation. They didn’t have insurance after all! Each year, from everyone’s insurance premiums, about £15.00 to £30.00 is put in the Motor Insurers’ Bureau’s compensation fund so that the innocent victims of negligence can be compensated. It would be unjust if because someone didn’t bother to get insurance and you were unable to be compensated as a result.
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Nowadays receiving a ‘pre-med’ offer in respect of compensation for your injuries is common. What I mean by a ‘pre-med’ offer is a pre-medical offer – i.e. an offer made to you by the Defendant without medical evidence having been sought.
The normal procedure in the claims process is to obtain medical evidence after the Defendant has admitted liability. Medical evidence is important because it allows your injuries to be properly diagnosed and detailed so you can find out how long a medical expert believes you will be suffering for. The general rule is that the more severe and long lasting your injury is, the more it is worth. Naturally, having a medical report allows your claim to be properly valued by confirming this.
Why do Defendant’s make pre-med offers?
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I’m sure most of you reading this have gathered we are getting hit my the inevitable; I’ve always felt that after the incredible snow storms we weathered through in 2010 that it was only a matter of time we would see the worst of the seasons weather return.
The weather is dangerous – and accidents are likely.
Friday was when the midlands (or at least where I live!) was hit by the snow, and it laid very fast. I’d say there has been a good four or five settled inches which has largely survived the weekend of trampling footsteps and flattening car wheels. But waking up this morning to news of travel chaos and problems all across Britain’s travel infrastructure as planes are grounded at Heathrow, and motorists being urged to take extra care on the roads, is far too reminiscent of that insane November in 2010.
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Most people have heard of whiplash, but a lot of those people are not 100% sure what whiplash is. Here’s a quick guide:
What is whiplash?
It’s a soft tissue injury to your head/neck/shoulder area. What I mean by this is the damage caused by a strain to the muscles/tendons in those parts.
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Have you been injured when you were a passenger in a car or on a bus? Good news – you have one of the best chances of a successful claim for compensation.
Passenger injury claims are one of the easiest to assess because it is highly unlikely you were to blame for the accident. Really, unless you pull the handbrake or were severely distracting the driver at the time of the accident, you cannot be at fault for the accident. Say you were the passenger in a car when someone drives into the back of that car, how can you be at fault? You can therefore be compensated for any injuries you get as a result.
Here are a couple of examples of good passenger claims. You are on a bus which is involved in a crash, the crash is not your fault, you can seek compensation from whoever was at fault, e.g. the bus driver or the third party driver. You pop out to the shops with a friend and someone drives into the rear of your friend’s car whilst you are waiting at traffic lights and you get whiplash, you can claim compensation for this whiplash.
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Depending on your choice of profession, you may find yourself exposed to all sorts of weird, wonderful, and potentially dangerous equipment that is necessary for you to use to carry out your job. If you’re mainly office based like me, the only equipment I use other than my computer is a phone, a pen, and a stapler now and then! So there isn’t much danger in it for me – although if you are computer based, make sure you’ve done your Display Screen Equipment tests…
Alternatively, those of you working on a construction site will be using power tools, ladders, cement mixers, plant machinery, and all sorts of potentially lethal things; so it goes without saying that adequate training and supervision is needed for the use of this kind of work equipment…
The Law
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If you have been injured in a car crash because of someone else’s negligence, you will usually get your compensation from their car insurer.After all car insurance is there so that if things go wrong cars can be repaired and injured people can get compensation.
But what happens if the negligent driver doesn’t have insurance? Don’t worry! You can still be compensated for your injuries.
The difference is that you will be compensated by the Motor Insurers’ Bureau (MIB) instead of the negligent drivers’ insurance company. Let me explain more…
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