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.

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…

Each year over 1 millions drivers in the UK drive without insurance, which is illegal.  This doesn’t mean that they can get away from compensating people for their injuries if they have been negligent though.  Every year those who take out car insurance see around £15.00 to £30.00 of their premium go to the Motor Insurers’ Bureau compensation fund. 

This was set up back in 1946 so that people who have been hurt by uninsured negligent drivers can still be compensated.  It would be unjust otherwise.   All you have to do to make a claim is to report your accident to police as soon as possible and then fill in a Motor Insurers’ Bureau claim form so that they can decide whether you have a claim and decide how much compensation you should get.  If you are unsure how to do this why not instruct an expert injury lawyer with vast experience in dealing with these sorts of claims?  They can do the work for you!

At The Injury Lawyers we are experts in our field and deal with road traffic accident claims on a daily basis.  We have consistently got our clients great results and are available on our free 0800 634 75 75 number should you wish to discuss anything further. 

We are open between 9am and 10pm each weekday, and 9am and 5pm each weekend to answer any queries you may have.  If you want we can even get the ball rolling on your potential claim straightaway!

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!

What is a pre-med offer? 

It is an offer of settlement, without the evidence and sight of a medical report, put forward by the third party insurer to the legal representative of the claimant. In today’s economic climate, for some individuals this may be quite tempting to accept at the early stage of an injury claim.

However, despite how tempting and attractive this offer may appear, without a medical report,  the valuation of your claim cannot be accurately determined, so a pre-med offer is unlikely to be an accurate settlement amount. Normally the best way to value a claim is to have a medical report which entails you visiting an expert medical consultant for a quick appointment so the expert can report his or her conclusions about your injury and the extent of the impact on your life.

Here are some things that should be taken into consideration before signing on the dotted line:-

• Are you fully recovered from the accident, or do you have any on-going symptoms?
• Are you attending physiotherapy or rehabilitation of any kind, and if so who is paying for the treatment?
• As a result of the accident, did you lose any pay due to time off work?
• Did you have any other losses or expenses that you have either paid out of your pocket for or where the bills are still outstanding?
• Has the accident had an impact on your life with regard to social activities, and have you had assistance with domestic chores and personal care?
• Do you feel that you are 100% in the same position as you were prior to the accident?

Once a pre-med is accepted, the above points cannot be assessed as part of your claim any further, so the amount payable to you is generally made as a full and final settlement and the claim cannot be re-opened once you have signed and accepted the offer.

If this does happen to you, always discuss with your Injury Lawyer prior to accepting any offer, and make sure to take advice on how best to proceed, and what the pros and cons are of accepting such an offer at an early stage.

There are occasions when the third party insurer will contact you directly to offer you a pre-med, without including an Injury Lawyer; the insurer isn’t doing this out of the goodness of their heart, they are doing it to try and save themselves money, regardless as to whether or not they are fully compensating you for your injuries.

Where you do not have an injury lawyer to submit a claim on your behalf, and the third party contacts you directly with a pre-med offer, before accepting anything, take time to call an Injury Lawyer for free, no obligation advice.

Remember that the compensation paid out for injury and any losses should put you into the financial position you were in prior to the accident – you should be fully compensated for your injuries and loss.

According to sources from the BBC (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-16736385) Mr Mas has been taken in to custody in Marseilles, where his lawyer has told a news agency that “he is not well, he is tired and he is waiting for his doctor.”

Investigations that date back to May 2010 in France confirmed that the company P.I.P had been using low grade silicon that is commonly used for industrial purposes in the production of mattresses and pillows, and is not to the standard of the European CE Mark approved gel that had originally been used. The silicon has the potential to cause irritation, and may even affect the victims DNA if ongoing tests conclude such dangers.

What’s worse is that there is only a single exo layer containing a high volume of the gel, making leaks likely and explosion a serious and dangerous possibility. The potential of the gel leaking or the implant rupturing is scarily high according to this information.

A lawyer representing women who had been fitted with P.I.P implants has commented saying “This is a relief. It’s come late, but at least it’s happened.”

The report goes on to confirm that Mr Mas had allegedly informed police in an interview that his company had been deceiving European inspectors for 13 years. Employees were ordered to hide the industrial grade gel they were using when inspectors where visiting; this news only increasing the disgracefulness of what can only be described as a cold, calculated and uncaring way one French company saved money and increased their profit margins at the expense of hundreds of thousands of innocent women.

Mr Mas is also allegedly maintaining his stance that the silicon is harmless, and commented that he has “nothing to say” to the women who have filed complaints to, in his view, “make money”. All I personally have to say to that is that the evidence so far speaks for itself – and I imagine there’s a reason why the gel he used was not to the standards for implants and a reason why he appears to have tried so hard to hide the fact he was using it!

If you are worried that you may be the victim of P.I.P breast implants, contact us free on our claims helpline on 0800 634 75 75 today, and we will look in to whether or not you have the implants, and whether you could potentially have a claim.

We strongly believe that you should have a claim for the pain and suffering of any leakages or bursts, as well as the associated suffering and inconvenience, as well as physical and psychological scarring that comes with further operations. The losses involved, like lost earnings from time off work, medical expenses, travel expenses, and care and assistance from family and friends will also be assessed.

The potential for women in the UK to make a claim is there according to our own research, and our specialist medical negligence team has been assembled to take on cases and advice people who believe they may have a claim. Follow this link for more information, or call us on 0800 634 75 75 and we will do all we can to help you out.

So, if you’ve had an accident at work, and you’re looking for a work accident compensation claim lawyer, look no further, and take note of this three part guide that will fill you in on what you need to know.

1. Your Position and Employment is Protected

The first thing that commonly makes people think twice about making a claim against their employer is the affect a claim could have on their employment. In times of financial hardship, people worry that their jobs could be on the line if they were to sue their employers.

Trust me when I say there is literally no need for you to panic. You are protected by law and you cannot be sacked or treated any differently for making a claim against your employer. If this were to happen, you would have another simple claim against them for unfair dismissal if you lost your job, or perhaps constructive dismissal if you feel you had to leave after the way you were being treated. So for this reason, you shouldn’t worry – your employers know the law, and they would be stupid to attempt anything unsavoury

Plus, your employer has a legal obligation to have a policy of employers liability insurance to cover their employees for making claims. It’s not actually your employers that pay out: it’s the insurers! The insurance exists for employees injured in the line of duty to claim from, so it’s perfectly natural and normal to make a claim from it. It’s there to be used.

Furthermore, we find nowadays most employers are quite happy for you to make a claim from the insurance. After all, you’ve been hurt in the line of duty for them, and they have insurance for you to claim from. We often find nowadays people call us and actually tell us their employers advised them to talk to a No Win, No Fee lawyer and make a claim! This is great, as it’s an amicable process anyway, and our job is to simply ensure your interests are protected.

2. It Shouldn’t Cost You a Penny

This is of course entirely dependent on the No Win, No Fee agreement you enter in to. If the claim loses, you should not have to pay a single penny to your lawyers. If it wins, you should receive 100% compensation with no costs to pay as all your lawyers legal fees are recovered from the insurance directly.

Yes, that’s right – your employers insurance even covers your legal fees for making a claim!

With a Genuine Agreement, it shouldn’t end there – it should have an extra part to say that they will restrict their fees to the amount which they recover from the other side. This essentially means that your lawyer writes off any unrecovered, fees meaning you get to keep all 100%; guaranteed.

3. There’s More Than Just the Money

There’s more to making a claim than financial compensation you are duly owed for your injuries at work. On that side of things, you are entitled to claim a sum for the pain, suffering, and inconvenience the injury has caused you, and you are entitled to claim for any losses incurred – such as lost earnings, or travel expenses, etc.

With a good lawyer like us, we recognise that you may need treatment; fast! That’s why we can arrange funding for private medical care that can cover physiotherapy, chiropractic, or osteopathic treatment right from the start of the claim. If we win the case, we will seek to recover the fees from the insurers, and if the cases loses, we can look to recover the fees from a policy of insurance. So, in a worst case scenario, if your claim loses, at least you can get access to private medical care to help you back on the road to recovery!

If you have had an accident at work and you want to know whether you have a claim for compensation, call our free claims helpline today on 0800 634 75 75 for a friendly, no obligation chat. We will happily answer all of your queries, and start your claim on a same day basis if you are happy for us to do so. There’s no waiting around for lengthy contracts or huge legal documents – it’s simple and fast to get your claim started with us over the phone!

If you have been injured through no fault of your own, you can claim compensation.  The compensation you get for your injuries alone is called General Damages.  So you have whiplash, and you make a claim and get £1,500.00 for your injuries.  This is your general damages.  Ok, but did you know that you can also be get compensation for any other losses that come from your accident as well?  You can, and these are called Special Damages.  This is compensation for your financial losses.

What exactly are Special Damages?

Right, so you’ve been injured and have had to have time off work.  You earn £250.00 a week and received £80.00 sick pay; you’ve lost out on £170.00.  You can make a claim to get this £170.00 as part of your special damages.  This would be called a claim for loss of earnings.

Here are a few more examples of things that can be claimed back from the Defendant.

• Treatment costs – if you have whiplash you will probably need physiotherapy to help you recover faster.  This costs money and can be claimed back (although with a fantastic injury lawyer like us, we arrange for funding o f the treatment for you!)
• Medication costs – your pain was so bad you had to buy painkillers.
• Travel expenses – if you go to a medical appointment then you will either have incurred petrol costs, or a taxi or bus fare unless you walked.
• Care and assistance – some people are in so much pain they can only do limited things around the house – they might need to get a carer in or ask a family member to help do household chores: an hourly wage can be claimed back.

Special damages are any financial loss that you have had as a result of your accident.

At The Injury Lawyers we have noticed that some people think that they have to make a claim for Special Damages because we let them know about this option.  But it is exactly that, an option, if you don’t want to claim special damages you don’t have to.  For example, if you don’t want to claim for the few pounds you spent on paracetamol, you don’t have to; but you should know that you can if you want.  Some people haven’t had any financial losses and are worried because they can’t think of anything to claim for – not to worry; you can still get your General Damages for your injury without having to make a Special Damages claim.

At The Injury Lawyers we are on hand each week day between 9am and 10pm and weekend day between 9am and 5pm to provide you with free legal advice: so why not give us a free call on 0800 634 75 75 if you have any questions?