How long after an RTA (road traffic accident) can you make a personal injury claim in the UK?

How long after an RTA (road traffic accident) can you make a personal injury claim in the UK?

In law, there are limitation periods that apply which mean a person can only bring a claim within a particular period of time. The length of that timeframe is normally dependant on where the accident happened, the circumstances, and the age of the person at the time of the accident.

For a road accident that happened in England and Wales, you normally have three years from the date of the accident to bring a claim. This means you must either settle the claim or issue court proceedings within the three year period. Failure to do so may mean you are statute barred from claiming. This normally means you will face difficulties making a claim as your opponent can raise a defence under the Limitation Act 1980.

One key exception is if you were under the age of 18 when the accident happened. If this is the case, you normally have three years from the date of your 18^th birthday to bring a claim. The reason for this is that you cannot normally pursue a claim yourself if you are under the age of 18, so if your parents fail to do it on your behalf, you can still look to bring a claim when you are legally responsible enough to do so.

In Scotland there is a key difference – you can bring a claim from the age of 16 yourself, so the limitation period is three years from the date of your 16^th birthday.

The above is a very rough guide – for proper advice as to what limitation period applies to you, seek advice from a law firm.

WARNING!

The above is just a guide, so don’t leave it too late and end up falling fowl of the law. There is no prescribed timeframe you have to wait before you start a road traffic accident claim, so you are in a much better position starting it as soon after the accident as you possibly can.

There are other things to consider as well when it comes to why you should start a claim as soon as you possibly can:

• We will need you to see a medico-legal expert for a report, and it is better to see them as soon as possible; especially if you are still injured when you visit them.
• We can properly advise you on what medical attention you should have and how frequently to make the medical evidence as thorough as possible.
• We can properly advise what evidence you need to retain to allow us to claim for your losses, like lost earnings and medical or medication expenses. Normally, no evidence of loss means no ability to claim for it! The insurers love to dispute payments!
• We can fund private treatment to help you recover as quickly as possible.

Another significant thing to consider is changes in the law. From April 2013, lawyers are unable to recover all of their legal fees from the opponent due to the government changing the rules. Even if your accident happened before April, the rules still affect you. This means you may lose out on thousands of pounds from your payout, and there is nothing to stop future rule changes from further affecting a claim.

The golden rule is claim now!