The ticket says the bus company are not liable for the injuries I have sustained – does this mean I cannot make a claim?

When you buy a ticket for a lift on a bus, you are entering into a contract with them to provide you a lift (carriage). Under the Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977, a company providing the service of a carriage cannot ‘dogde’ liability for your injuries as a passenger.

Duty of the driver:

• The driver has a common law duty to take care when driving in order to keep his passengers safe.
• What happens of the driver had to stop as a matter of emergency?

The main reason passengers are injured on public transport is that the driver has to break urgently. This is usually due to driver error such as failing to see the car in front braking – the driver then has to brake harder in order to avoid a collision and even sometimes collides with the vehicle in front resulting in the passengers being thrown about!

Although there is a specific Act that confirms the bus company cannot dodge their liability for your injuries, case law available (which the judge would rely on when deciding your case) seems to protect the driver’s from this liability.

The case law available confirms that as long as the bus driver has acted ‘as a reasonable man would’ when braking, then a passenger will not be able to claim for personal injuries incurred.

Conclusion

Unfortunately, unless you can prove that the driver’s actions were very unreasonable and abnormal for the circumstances, there are very grim chances of your claim for personal injury being successful.

Britain’s youngest serving soldier Jamie Cooper, 18 was injured whilst he served for England as a Royal Green Jacket Rifleman and was taken to be treated at Selly Oak Hospital in Birmingham alongside a number of wounded soldiers brought here to be treated.

Mr and Mrs Cooper, Jamie’s parents have written a formal letter to military leaders and also the NHS staff raising their concerns about the care that Jamie has received during his stay at the hospital.

The family have been very distressed by the poor level of care Jamie has received. One incident in particular that was particularly upsetting was when Jamie asked for his Colostomy bag to be emptied. Three different nursing staff were asked to do this for Jamie but nothing was done.

Mr and Mrs Copper confirmed in their letter of complaint that they helped themselves to the equipment needed from the store room and cleaned the bag themselves for Jamie as this was obviously a task too onerous for the nurses.

Sky news reports that Jamie nearly died when shrapnel sliced through his stomach after a mortar attack in Basra last November.

The level of care provided to the soldiers is seemingly appalling and many other families have raised their concerns over the same. Some report that nurses have taken too long to administer pain relief to soldiers leaving them in unnecessary pain. It seems that the soldiers are being provided with an all round terrible service and even food is reported to be at an appalling.

Mr and Mrs Cooper have been informed that their letter of complaint is being investigated, but this leaves little hope that the standard of care and treatment for now is disgusting. You would expect that not only should there be an excellent level of care all round, but that soldiers who have risked their lives for us, should be treated with respect and cared for excellently.

The incident involved a van being driven by an anonymous 20 year old from Urquhart, Moray and a minibus carrying 10 individuals to work.

The collision happened at 07.20 and rendered the road closed for 8 hours whilst investigations took place and the road was cleared. It is also believed that another motorist also had to be taken to hospital in order to be treated for shock.

Three of the individuals travelling on the minibus are believed to be seriously injured and are being treated at Dr Gray’s Hospital in Elgin. Unfortunately, the young driver of the minibus lost his life in the incident.

It is not clear how the accident happened but it looks as though it took place on a narrow country road. The weather was very cold this morning and it the roads were wet which means these could have been contributing factors in the collision.

It is very important at this time of year to alter your driving technique in order to take in to consideration the road conditions;

1. Think about setting out a few minutes earlier in order to give yourself plenty of time and ensure that you are not rushing to reach your destination.
2. Reduce your speed! Breaking distances are greatly increased when the roads are wet, icy or covered in snow so slow down and make sure you leave yourself plenty of room between you and the car in front.
3. Carry out regular maintenance on your car to ensure that all of your lights are in full working order. It only takes 5 minutes (if that) to carry out these checks.
4. Don’t even think about drinking and driving! This time of year the number of drink related accidents sores as people have a festive tipple and think they will be ok to make the short journey home. The best advice is; do not drink anything if you are the designated driver for the night. This way you can be sure that you are 100% sober and your judgment is not even slightly disorientated!

If you do find yourself involved in a road traffic accident which was not your fault and you have been injured then you are entitled to make a claim for damages. You can be compensated for not only your injuries but also the damage caused to your vehicle and any out of pocket expenses incurred as a result of the accident.

Even if you are not sure about the liability aspect you should still seek legal advice as you may be to seek some compensation even if it is not the full amount.

The injury lawyers offer years of experience in dealing with road traffic personal injury claims so do not hesitate to contact us for some free legal advice!

There are several things that will be taken into consideration when a judge is determining what compensation you should receive for injuries sustained following an accident whereby you were a passenger in a vehicle which was being driven by a person under the influence of alcohol..

There are certain factors which will be looked at when considering whether a deduction should be made;

• Did you know or should have known that the driver had consumed such a quantity of alcohol which would be likely to impair the drivers capacity to drive safely?
• Did you observe how much the driver was drinking throughout the night/day before your journey home?
• How long had you spent with the driver prior to the journey resulting in an accident?

A leading case which has set out most of the principles of law in this area is Owens V Brimmel. In this case the passenger in the vehicle had spent the evening with the driver in various pubs, the passenger was aware of how much the driver had consumed and although was intoxicated himself, it was argued that he should have known before they started drinking that the driver would not be in a fit state to drive home at the end of the night.

Nevertheless the passenger still accepted the lift home at the end of the night and the vehicle was inevitably involved in an accident. The passenger sustained serious injuries.

It was found that the passenger had contributed to his injuries by accepted the journey knowing the above and as such, his compensation was reduced by 20% (this is known as contributory negligence).

However, in a different case were the driver and passenger where brothers who had been out drinking together, the passenger’s compensation was reduced by 30%

What happens if I did not know how much the drvier had consumed/ was unaware he was intoxicated?

Your damages may not be reduced if you can show that you did not know how much the driver had consumed and the driver did not give an indication that his ability to drive was impaired by the amount he had consumed. A good example of this was set out in a case called Traynor V Donovan where the passenger had only met the driver 30 minutes before the car journey and the judge held that within that half an hour she would not have been able to observe the drivers drinking. The passenger was awarded her full compensation and no percentage was taken.

Conclusion

• You may still claim for personal injury sustained whiles travelling as a passenger in a vehicle driven by a drink driver
• Your compensation will be reduced (around 20/30% depending on the exact circumstances) if you knew/ should have known that the driver had drank so much as to impair their driving ability
• There is a defence that you did not have the time to observe the drivers drinking to be able to judge that he was ‘over the limit’ or unfit to drive
• This defence cannot be used if you travelled to the ‘night/day out’ with the same driver knowing that it was there intention to drink.

The warden confirms that they had saw the man at around 3:30 in the afternoon on the 20 November and had issued the ticket to his vehicle which was illegally parked.

Later that afternoon the man pulled up at the side of his victim to have a rant about the ticket, the usual complaints which obviously would not have changed the warden’s mind about the ticket! After his complaint had got him no-were, he lashed out at the warden before driving away from the scene.

The attacker was described as an Asian man with dark hair and clean shaven, around the age of 19-22. He was wearing grey track suit bottoms with a woollen hat, the ticketed car was a silver Honda civic.

BBC news reports that they have not found the attacker and are appealing for witnesses. They are hopeful that many will come forward as the place, London Road in Leicester is a very busy place at that time of day and hopefully someone may have some vital information to piece the puzzle together.

I’m sure we have all been in a similar situation, I know I have, I parked outside my own home but my car was a third onto one yellow line, I received a ticket for this! I was fuming, but it never crossed my mind to go and find the warden responsible to give him a good ‘punching’!

I think the moral of the story is to check, double check, then check again that you are parked in the correct place and if necessary, you had ‘paid and displayed’!

And if you are unfortunate enough to become a victim of such a ridiculous attack, be sure to contact a trusted law firm who specialises in personal injury claims to bring justice to the heartless, idiot who has caused you injury.

Susan is believed to have gone to the raceway with a group of people who had been invited by one of the staff ‘after hours’

The raceway company secretary has confirmed that the marshal who arranged the out of hours session has been sacked and the company is considering taking legal action against him.

The Marshall was expected to lock up the site at 9pm but instead turned off the CCTV for the whole of the site before letting his girlfriend and five other people onto the tracks for the private karting session.

Susan’s scarf reportedly became loose before getting tangled in the engine and strangling her.

She was unconscious when the police and ambulance service arrived at 9:40 and she sadly died the following day at Addenbrooke’s hospital where she had been treated for her critical neck injuries.

A spokesperson for Cambridge police has informed Sky News that a joint investigation has been launched with South Cambridgeshire Hospital.

Due to the tragic accident the racetrack has been closed until further notice.

Susan’s family have expressed there upset and have confirmed they are struggling to come to terms with the fact the she has gone.

Our thoughts go out to the family and Susan’s friends at such a devastating time.

The Edinburgh based airline has gone into administration and their administrators PriceWaterhousCoopers (PWC) confirmed they have failed to secure a new investor.

Not only will passengers be stranded, but over 800 employers will lose their jobs.

It is estimated that 4,5000 passengers alone are in Egypt and the Mediterranean and there are no flights home with the Airline.

The Civil Aviation Authority have confirmed that passengers who have booked their holidays through a travel agency will be ATOL protected and flights home will be arranged for them free of charge. Unfortunately this is only around 11000 of the holiday makers and the rest will have to try and arrange their own way home.

Flyglobespan ‘s website has information for customers who have booked flights with the them but it confirms that no flights will be reschedule and it is unlikely that customers who have booked future holidays with the company will not be getting their money back.

The CAA (Civil Aviation Authority) have set up a helpline for customers in need of advice to call, (+44 (0) 2891 856 547)

• Younger men have developed a name for themselves as boy races.
• They are more likely to drink drive / drive after taking drugs
• Younger drivers and their passengers are less likely to wear seatbelts
• Younger drivers tend to buy older cars or new cars that are small and not as safe in an accident
• They have a sense of indestructibility and drive like’ bat out of hell’ down familiar roads.
• Confidence and cockiness get the better of them when they take unnecessary risks overtaking though impatience.

Although statistics show the number of people dying on the road has seriously reduced, the number of younger drivers dying from car accidents is still worryingly high.

BBC news reports the story of Nick Bennett who lost everything due to his impatience getting the better of his.

Once Summers day he had taken his girlfriend home and was on his way home himself. He was familiar with the roads and was frustrated by being stuck behind two slow moving cars.

He wanted to drive fast in his beloved ‘boy racer’ Corsa and decided not to wait behind the cars any longer. He sped up and pulled out to overtake the cars.

Unfortunately he ploughed straight into an oncoming truck. Nick was not wearing a seat belt and as a result aggressively hit his steering wheel which collapsed both lungs. He sustained serious head and chest injuries and his brain stem had been twisted during the impact.

He remained in a coma for 3 weeks, and even after his wake he drifted in and out of consciousness. He was in hospital for around 2 years battling life threatening injuries all caused through his own fault.

He lost his girlfriend and most of the friends he had before the accident. Six years on Nick still has difficulty with speech and still requires help preparing meals and dressing himself.

Now more than ever we wish to send a message out to all of you to raise awareness for your own and others safety:

• Make sure you wear your seatbelt
• Do not drink and drive
• Be patient, make sure there is enough room and you can see the road ahead before overtaking
• Ensure you and your passengers make it home safely

It has now been discovered that vegetarians, although less susceptible to cancers, are at no lesser risk than meat eaters from developing bowel cancer.

We’ve all seen things in the media; don’t eat pork, red meats are the worse. In fact I don’t think anyone is too sure what we can and can’t eat for the best and although it has been suggested that red meats are worse for causing bowel cancer, I must question this due to the fact that vegetarians are at the same risk from cancer than the rest of us.

I think the only thing experts are entirely sure on are the simples – obesity increases your health risks as does consuming large amounts of alcohol, I think anything else at the moment is a bit of a continuing grey area.

Tom Sanders, professor of Professor of Nutrition & Dietetics at King’s College, London reported to BBC news that even the fruits and vegetables do not contain enough protective benefits against serious disease as originally thought.

Although it has been proven that chemicals in certain fruit and veg can help protect against certain diseases (for example broccoli’s chemicals help protect against tumours of the bowel, lung and skin), it is not thought that we consume enough as a population to protect ourselves.

Tom Sanders has explained that experts hope to have developed a far better understanding of the matter over the next ten years, until then, don’t count on the broccoli saving your life!

Well despite all of this, there have been weather warnings plastered over the news! Sky news reports that ‘Britain is going to face freezing temperatures this weekend’

Not only was November reported as the wettest November ion history, but frosts throughout Britain and wintry showers have been predicted for the next days to come.

It is predicted that night time temperatures are to fall to as low as -3 degrees and its not looking much brighter for the day with highs estimated for around 3 degrees.

Not only is there going to be an outbreak of cold weather, but we will also suffer with freezing fog, so our message is to stay safe over the wintery period and be sure that you take extra care on the roads.

As the RAC have warned road users of treacherous road conditions over the weekend we thought we would through in a few pointers:

• Be sure to store a warm coat in your car just in case you may break down
• It’s always a good idea to put a good pair of walking boots/shoes on your car in case you do have to walk in the treacherous conditions
• Make sure you take a good source of energy with you in case you get stranded – you never know how long you may be there – the best thing is a mars bar!
• Remember to reduce your speed and keep a good stopping distance from the car in front.