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. 

Under the old system this could take 4 months, now it takes 3 weeks!  This is massive difference which means that you can get your compensation faster.  Once liability is admitted it is just a matter of your injury lawyer arranging a medical appointment at a time and place convenient for yourself so that your injuries can be linked to the accident and we can see how long you will be suffering for.  If you are happy with the report this will be sent to the Defendant and your injury lawyer can try and settle your claim without the need to go to court (truly a last resort!).

The best thing you can do to make sure you get an expert injury lawyer on your side who will fight tooth and nail for the maximum compensation you deserve.  Make sure that they will do all the work for you and that you will definitely get to keep 100% of your compensation.  You should also see if they can help you out with some private medical treatment so that you can get on the road to recovery and get over your injury sooner.

For some free no obligation legal advice get in touch today on 0800 634 75 75.  At The Injury Lawyers we vow to get you the maximum compensation in the shortest time possible.  We will regularly update you every 14 days and don’t believe anyone can offer as great service levels as us.

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.

Do I have whiplash?

Give us a call today and we can give you an indication from what you describe to us.  But remember, we are expert injury lawyers, not medical experts, and this means although something may sound like whiplash, we cannot medically diagnose you with whiplash – only a medical expert can do this.

That said, if you come to us and advise that you have been in a car accident, and in this accident you were thrust forward and then your seatbelt pulled you back and now you are in pain, this would seemingly suggest you have whiplash. This is because whiplash occurs when your neck is suddenly and unexpectedly jerked.

Whiplash symptoms:

• Pain, stiffness or tenderness in your neck/shoulders
• Pins and needles in your arms
• Shoulder pain
• Restricted mobility
• Headaches
• Nausea

How long will I have whiplash for?

This entirely depends on the individual.  People who have been involved in the same accident and in the same car can suffer whiplash for varying amounts of time.  Really, how long you will suffer for depends on the severity of your accident and how resistant your body is.  The best thing to do is get yourself down to your GP or attend an NHS walk-in centre where they are better placed to let you know how long they think you will suffer for.

How can I treat my whiplash?

If you attend a medical expert they will typically provide you with painkillers.  But, depending on the severity of your whiplash, it may be that you need further treatment, for instance some physiotherapy.  Although your GP may be able to arrange this for you, at The Injury Lawyers we could possibly arrange private medical care for you at no cost to yourself.  This will save you waiting on a lengthy NHS list.  And, the reason it won’t cost you anything is because the cost can be recovered from the Defendant who will be keen for you to recover faster so that they can lessen the amount of compensation they will have to give you.

Am I entitled to compensation for my whiplash?

Only if the accident was not your fault or at least not entirely your fault.  If it was you who caused the accident you cannot claim compensation.  But, for example, if you were in a car and someone has gone into the rear of your vehicle, you were clearly not at fault and be compensated for any injuries and losses you may have suffered.

How much is my whiplash claim worth?

This depends entirely on how long you are suffering and the severity of your whiplash.  Generally, the more pain and suffering you have, the more compensation you will be entitled to.  Last year, on average whiplash claims settled for approximately £2,500.00.  A minor whiplash injury lasting 3 to 5 weeks could be worth around £1,000.00.

What should I do next?

Get in touch with us at The Injury Lawyers today on 0800 634 75 75.  We can provide you with free, no obligation legal advice.  We can assess your claim over the phone and let you know if we believe it will be successful.  If you want we can get the ball rolling on your claim today and see if we can get you fixed up with some private medical care at no cost to yourself.

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.

Making a claim through the Motor Insurers’ Bureau is straightforward, especially if you have an expert and quality injury lawyer on your side.  Don’t worry if you are unsure about the process, because an expert injury lawyer will be able to help you out and do the work for you.  All you would have to do is provide any information that is requested from you.  Importantly, to make your claim you need to make sure that you have reported your accident to the police within as soon as you possibly can.  If you don’t, you may not be able to obtain the compensation you deserve.

If you are one of the unfortunate people to have been involved in an accident with the 1 million drivers in the United Kingdom who each year fail to get car insurance, get in touch with us today for free on 0800 634 75 75.  We can discuss your potential claim and give you expert and free legal advice about taking the next steps.

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?

If you accept a pre-med offer, your claim is settled.  There is no going back for more compensation later.  If the Defendant can get you to accept a pre-med offer they will in all likelihood save money.  For instance, they won’t have to pay for your medical report and they won’t have to pay the costs associated with settling your claim at a later stage.  Furthermore, if they can get you to settle your claim without medical evidence, they will probably be able to settle it cheaper.  This is because without medical evidence you do not know exactly how much your claim is worth.  Your injuries might be worth £1,500.00 but you have settled your claim for £1,000.00.

Things to consider before you accept a pre-med offer

A pre-med offer is purposely tempting.  You can get the money at an early stage in your claim and you don’t have any more ‘hassle’ or have to wait any longer.  But accepting a pre-med offer is not always the right thing for you to do.  Here’s why:

• Your injuries may be ongoing; accepting an offer now means you cannot go back and ask for more compensation if you are still suffering a few months or a year down the line
• If you are having physiotherapy, accepting a pre-med offer could leave you paying for this once your claim is settled.  Settling your claim once you have finished your course of physiotherapy allows you to potentially recover these costs.
• Without medical evidence you do not know the true extent of your pain and suffering from a medically diagnosed perspective; settling your claim without medical evidence may mean you under-settle your claim.  Is it worth waiting a few more months for a lot more money?

Final thoughts:

Defendants do not make pre-med offers out of the kindness of their heart – they make them to save money.  Yes, the pre-med offer may be a good one, and yes you may want to put the whole saga behind you – that’s fine – but you should know when your pain and suffering will stop so that you do not under-settle your claim.  Once your claim is settled, that’s it.

For some further free, no obligation legal advice, give our friendly and expert team a call today on 0800 634 75 75.

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.

Reports of hundreds of vehicles stranded on the M40 and M25 have come in from the BBC this morning, and a Facebook status from a friend of mine stated that it was “madness” as he literally watched cars just crash in to each other, with ditched recovery trucks even fallible enough to be unable to survive the harsh conditions.

Claims For Compensation

So, as you can imagine, we get extra busy around these times in the seasons as we are inundated with calls from people all wanting to know whether they have a claim for compensation. First thing I will say is that it’s always best to speak to an injury lawyer direct to find out over the phone whether you have a good chance of making a claim or not. If you speak to one of those claims companies or accident help lines, or call centre law firms, they will probably schedule a call back in a few hours or even days for an answer.

Give us a call now – we can normally tell you over the phone in minutes whether you have a claim or not.

Another thing I will say is that, although it’s highly annoying to get caught out on a patch of black ice, or a deep bit of snow, claiming against the council is a difficult job to do if it was the weather that caused your accident. The duty the highways authorities have is to reasonably grit where and when possible, and it’s normally based on a priority scale; but this is not an absolute duty.

However, if you’re involved in an accident with another vehicle, you should be able to make a claim for compensation so long as you weren’t 100% at fault. If someone else loses control of their vehicle due to the weather and crashes in to your car, you have a good chance of making a successful claim against them.

Sadly, with conditions as slippery as they are, impacts can be pretty brutal. In many rear end collisions, for example, the car at fault at least tries to slam their brakes on and reduces their speed to some degree. But in ice, the instinct to slam the brakes on is the worst thing a driver can do; they’ll probably lock, and the car will smash at considerable speed in to any vehicle in its path. This can leave the accident victim with some nasty injuries.

If you must head out and about, make sure you take extra care and prepare yourself and your vehicle to suit the conditions outdoors. It’s really only best to venture out if you simply have to do so, and only if it is safe to do so. Travel at a speed suitable for the conditions, and leave larger gaps between you and the vehicle in front to increase your stopping distance. If you do end up in an accident, given the weather conditions, I’d call the police and see if they need to assist. Ensure you take the full names and addresses, and vehicle registration numbers, or all persons involved.

If you have been involved in an accident caused by someone else, speak to us today about making an injury claim – we can also assist with all of your vehicle hire and repair needs as well, so don’t worry about sorting it yourself; we are a one stop claims shop who can take care of every need you have.

If we can help you out on our Genuine No Win, No Fee, you can fully expect to receive all 100% of your compensation payout. We can also help you out with any medical care needs that you may have as well.

Call our free claims helpline on 0800 634 75 75 and speak to an advisor today about your accident claim. Like I said before, we can tell you over the phone, normally within minutes, if you have a claim, and we can set your case up on a same day basis as well. We are an actual law firm of specialist personal injury lawyers; so our advice is the finest, and your claim is in the best of hands!

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.

How do I know if I have whiplash?

Well if you give us a call we can assess your accident and see if it seems likely that you have whiplash from the symptoms described.  But, at the end of the day, we aren’t medical experts, and only a medical expert can formally diagnose whiplash.  What we can say is that if you have been in a car accident where you head was suddenly thrust forward because, for example, someone has gone into the back of your car, then whiplash would be a common type of injury to get.  Whiplash is caused by a forceful and unexpected jolting of your head/neck/shoulder area.

Have you got any of these symptoms?

• Pain, stiffness or tenderness in your neck/shoulders
• Pins and needles in your arms
• Shoulder pain
• Restricted mobility
• Headaches
• Nausea

If so, you may well be suffering from a whiplash injury.

How long will my whiplash last and how can I get rid of it sooner?

This really depends on the severity of your accident ,and it can differ hugely from person to person.  We have known people to complain of whiplash straightaway and some a few days later.  We have also known people in the same car to be suffering more than the person sat next to them; and for longer.  It really does depend on the individual.

In terms of getting better, your GP is best placed to advise, but it is not uncommon to be given painkillers or recommended a course of physiotherapy.  If you instruct us we can try and arrange some private medical treatment as part of your claim so that you can get on the road to recovery and get better faster.

Can I be compensated for my whiplash?

Yes – if the injury was due to someone else’s negligence.  For example, someone drives into the back of your vehicle or pulls out of a side road into your car – or you are an innocent passenger in a car.  These are just some of the scenarios where you could make a claim.  Get in touch with us today on 0800 634 75 75 and we will be able to assess the prospects of you making a successful claim.

What’s the claims process like?

Much better now a new system has been brought in to play.  You should get an admission of liability within a few weeks of letting the Defendant know you want to make a claim and then it’s just a matter of getting medical evidence to support your claim and settling it.  You could well get your compensation in just a couple of months.  With the right injury lawyer you won’t even have to lift a finger either.

At The Injury Lawyers we are expert injury lawyers with years of experience and deal with whiplash claims every day.  We vow to get our clients the maximum compensation they deserve and will make sure they know at least every 14 days what progress is being made on their claim.  For some further information and free legal advice with no obligations, give us a call today!

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.

The best way to get the maximum compensation you deserve is to instruct an expert injury lawyer with loads of experience in road traffic accident claims.  What they will do is take all your information and get the ball rolling on your claim for you.  A Claim Notification Form will be submitted online and then the other side will only have 1 business day to acknowledge it and then 15 business days to admit or deny liability.  Once this is sorted it’s just a matter of getting medical evidence and settling your claim which shouldn’t take long at all.

It’s important to know then that if you were a passenger and have been injured you have a great claim for compensation and you are entitled just like everyone else who has been injured is to make a claim.  It doesn’t matter than you weren’t driving or that it wasn’t your vehicle that was involved – you can still make a claim from the negligent party’s insurer.  Some people are also concerned that they don’t want to be suing a parent or a friend if it was them who caused the accident – you won’t be, you will be dealing with the insurer and it will be the insurer who pays the compensation.

For some further free legal advice give us at The Injury Lawyers a no obligations call today on 0800 634 75 75.  Make sure you ask about how you will get to keep 100% of any compensation you receive and why not see if we can arrange for you to get some private medical treatment at no cost to yourself!

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

There are loads of regulations surrounding work equipment, with the majority of them being covered under the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1992 – or as its informally known, PUWER! These rules and regulations impose the duty on your employers to ensure that work equipment is safe to use, and that you are safe in using it as well.

For more information on the ins and outs of the regulations, visit these sites http://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/indg291.pdf, http://www.healthandsafety.co.uk/provwrk.htm   

The gist and point of these regulations is to ultimately ensure that you, as the valued employee, do not end up injured or harmed through the use of work equipment – especially when so many simple accidents can be so easily avoided!

How This Affects YOU

Basically, any equipment you have to use at work to help you do your job should be covered under the regulations, so long as they are supplied by your employer specifically for the job at hand. So if you injure yourself using a piece of equipment that is designated for another task, or by using your own equipment as oppose to your employers, you risk injury and little chance of a claim.

Your employer must therefore supply, maintain, and replace all work equipment as and when it is necessary to do so. You need to be sufficiently trained in the use of work equipment, with potential dangers of its use being highlighted to you, and the equipment should have appropriate warning signs, guards, or other measures to keep you safe as and when necessary as well. If needs be, you should be supervised whilst using the equipment too.

Your responsibility is to make sure you use the right work equipment for the right job, as instructed, and use it in accordance with your training. What I mean by this is that your own failure to use work equipment safely leaves you open to obvious injury, and again, potentially little chance of a claim.

What Classes as Work Equipment?

As I’ve sort of briefly touched on above, work equipment is basically anything that you need to do your job. I mentioned above that I need a computer to do my job. If you are a window cleaner, you either need ladders or those long stretchy cleaning tools I’ve seen you guys use nowadays to do your job. That’s work equipment. If you’re a bricklayer, you need cement and a trowel at least. If you’re a joiner, you probably need a decent saw, hand or powered, and perhaps an automatic drill, some screws, a hammer, and some nails. All these fall within the category of work equipment.

If you drive lorries for a living, that lorry you drive around every day is classed as work equipment too. You couldn’t deliver three or four tonnes of frozen fish on your back now could you? The lorry you drive to deliver it is classed as your work equipment

Making a Compensation Claim

If you are injured at work through the use of work equipment, dependant on the circumstances surrounding how you were injured depends on whether you can make a personal injury claim or not. If your employer has failed in any of the duties they have for you, you have a good chance of a winning claim. If your accident and injuries were entirely preventable but your employer has failed in the important duty of care they have for you, you may well be owed thousands of pounds in compensation for your pain and suffering.

In some circumstances, your employer is strictly liable for an accident. The way the regulations are worded means that your employer could end up having to pay out if you were injured in an accident that could not have been prevented through inspection and maintenance. This is only in particular cases however; but the fact remains that the high volume of regulations and what they impose on your employer leaves you with a good chance of a winning claim in many circumstances.

The best way of finding out if you have a claim for compensation is to give us a call on 0800 634 75 75 today. That’s our free claims helpline – and at the end of it is a friendly advisor who will be able to have a free and friendly, no obligation, chat about your accident, and let you know in minutes whether or not you have a claim for compensation.

If you do, we could easily help you out using our Genuine No Win, No Fee system that guarantees you 100% compensation if you win, and no costs to pay if you lose.

Your employer has a legal obligation to have a policy of employer’s liability insurance in place to cover you for accidents at work – give us a call and we will let you know if you are eligible to claim from it.

Accidents in supermarkets are not uncommon at all; we are used to helping people out who have been injured through no fault of their own at the local supermarket. I know there’s the initial embarrassment and the feeling like you need to quickly disappear after you slip or trip in front of so many people, but in reality, you could have a claim for compensation for any injuries you receive.

Had a Supermarket Accident? Can You Claim?

If you injure yourself in a supermarket through no fault of your own, say by slipping on a rouge grape on the floor, or perhaps some spilt washing up liquid, or perhaps even on a wet floor as its been raining or the staff have been mopping, or perhaps you tripped over a protrusion or a defect, you may be entitled to claim for compensation for injury and loss.

All supermarkets have an obligation to have Public Liability Insurance, which covers them for any members of the public in the store who ends up injured through negligence. The store itself, i.e. the staff and those in charge, have an important duty of care to look after you and make sure you don’t end up injured whilst in the premises. If you do, and they are found to be negligent, you can claim for compensation for any injuries and losses from their insurance!

From the outset, it’s difficult to establish whether you have a definite claim or not. Normally it all comes down to what sort of inspection and maintenance systems the supermarket has, and what preventative measures they employ to stop accidents from happening. For example, for a supermarket to defend a claim, they would have to prove that they had a regular system of inspection and maintenance in place that prevents accidents from occurring as much as is reasonably possible. Say, half hourly checks of all aisles, and a clean as you go policy for all staff.

Where hazards appear and measures need to be taken, those responsible must ensure to cordon off dangerous areas, place wet floor signs or other signage down, and ensure no one ends up harmed.

Making a Claim

If the supermarket fails to properly look after their visitors, that’s when you can make a successful clam for compensation. Making a claim is easy – call a specialist injury law firm like us to firstly find out if you have a chance of a winning claim or not. If you do, we can help you out on a Genuine No Win, No Fee basis, that means you receive 100% compensation if you win, with all legal fees recovered from the other side or written off if they can’t be recovered, and no costs to pay if the case loses.

The protocol surrounding most personal injury claims is as follows –

Upon receiving details of your claim, we will send a letter of claim to the defendants which outlines the details of your accident and injuries, and how we believe them to be liable. From here we give them a period of 21 days to respond to our letter, informing us that they have acknowledged our claim and have forwarded the details over to their representing insurers.

As soon as we receive confirmation that the defendant’s insurers have acknowledged our claim, investigations should have begun. From here we send the insurers a letter highlighting the information surrounding the case and advise that they have 3 months to investigate the claim thoroughly and confirm whether they will pay out or not. It is important to understand however that as a company policy we do not like to leave our clients in the dark whilst this investigative period of 3 months is ongoing. We pride ourselves on our policy which ensures we update our client on the progression of their case every 2 weeks, letting them know exactly what stage we are in the case and what the next course of actions are likely to be.

If at the end of the 3 month investigative period liability is admitted, the next course of action is to arrange for medical evidence to be obtained, and your compensation to be negotiated with the other side. Having said this, if after the 3 months we find out that they are denying responsibility for your case, we will have to fight your corner for the case.

When we receive a denial of liability, our next course of action is to forward all the information surrounding the case to one of our expert barristers for review and advice. If on analysis from the barrister it is confirmed that the prospects for success are unfavourable i.e. less than 51%, we will get a second barristers opinion to see if the outcome is of a similar nature. If so, we may be unable to continue with the case.

It is important to understand however that should this happen, our fantastic company policy prevents us from charging any fees whatsoever to our client,  as we believe the unfortunate conclusion of enquiries is disappointing enough without having to worry about the burden of having to pay back expensive legal costs as well.

On the other hand however, if the barrister confirms a good chance of success i.e. more than 51%, our next priority is solely to focus on gathering whatever information possible to strengthen our case against the other side. Such information can come from a variety of sources – for example persuasive medical evidence or witness statements confirming the accident details. It is absolutely critical at this point to build an excellent armoury to fight your case all the way to court if necessary.

As a final note, one of the most frequently asked questions I get asked by clients during the investigative period is, ‘’. When a situation such as this occurs, the next course of action is to issue a Pre- action Disclosure Application to court, which is a request forcing the Defendants representatives to disclose all the information required to complete the investigation and confirm a position of liability.

Once again, this action is of no inconvenience to you as you are not required to attend court and it will cost you nothing – if our Pre Action Disclosure Application is successful, we will recover all the necessary costs from the Defendants insurers, ensuring that you never miss out on a penny- Pretty good eh!