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When making a claim for compensation, there are 2 aspects which normally make up your compensation award. These are General Damages which is for your pain, suffering and loss of amenity, and Special Damages.

Special damages is any quantifiable expense that you have incurred because of the accident or injuries. The purpose is to address any economic loss and to give you back return your financial position to that which would have been had the injury not occurred.

Not many people keep receipts for every purchase (myself included) but without documented evidence, the Defendant or their representatives are unlikely to reimburse you for the loss.

What can you include as a Special Damage?
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Any type of overtaking can always be hazardous. Anyone who proceeds to make an overtaking manoeuvre should do so with great care.

You may think it is easier for a motorcycle to overtake – However it can be more dangerous due to other road users and the fact that they simply cannot see a motorcycle or are not looking out for them properly. Drivers of all vehicles can fail to check their mirrors and surroundings properly before carrying out a manoeuvre.

Obviously as a motorcyclist you are more difficult to detect in any traffic – but other road users checking properly, and not just glancing, can avoid accidents. A common incident involving motorcyclists is that of a motorcyclist overtaking stationary traffic and a vehicle pulling out of the line of traffic to turn or to change lanes thus causing a collision.
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A concertina collision simply means that there are more than just 2 vehicles involved in the accident, and one vehicle collides with another which then shunts another vehicle, which collides with another; and so on, like a domino effect.

The most common place for this type of accident to occur is in heavy traffic. Vehicles cannot move out of the way and therefore one collision at the back can cause several more down the line of traffic if the first vehicle to be hit is forced in to the one in front.

If an accident occurs on the motorway, taking into account the speed of vehicles, the accident can be severe with many vehicles involved. If you are unlucky enough to be in the middle of one of these accidents, who is to blame?

Well, the more vehicles involved the more complicated it can be to assess who is to blame for the accident. If you have been shunted from behind and into the rear of the vehicle in front, you are likely to be an innocent party. In this circumstance, if you are injured and pursuing a claim for your injuries, you will likely receive 100% of the compensation awarded to you.
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Many types of accidents are a traumatic experience in some way, and I would say that even a minor accident can affect a person psychologically. Some psychiatric injuries can be long term and more sever and when there is a proper diagnosis of a recognised psychological condition, the Claimant can claim compensation for the psychological injuries sustained in addition to any physical injuries.

To get compensation for psychiatric injury there are a number of conditions a Claimant must satisfy. There must be an actual psychiatric injury (that is diagnosed) and mere fear, worry or grief is not always sufficient. Primary victims are those in the zone of physical danger.

Primary victims need to establish that physical harm was foreseeable and there is no need to establish that psychiatric injury was foreseeable.

Secondary victims are those not within the physical zone of danger but witnesses of a horrific events. Secondary victims must show that they are in a close tie of love and affection (with the primary victim), that they witness the event with their own unaided senses. There must be proximity to the event itself or its immediate aftermath and the psychiatric injury must be a result of a shocking event.
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Crossing a road is part of everyday life. We are all well aware of the dangers – whether it be as a driver looking out for pedestrians or as a pedestrian trying to safely cross to the other side of the road. Zebra crossings are in place to assist pedestrians in crossing the road. On busy roads, it would be very difficult without some kind of crossing in place to get to the other side. It would be very dangerous without some kind of crossing. Of course there are duties upon both drivers and pedestrians when it comes to zebra crossings. Liability can often be split depending on the circumstances of the individual case.

Pedestrians should wait for cars to stop in both directions before stepping out into the road. Other factors to consider include the speed of the vehicle, whether the pedestrian had waited for it to be safe before stepping out into the road etc. Especially in this type of claim, witnesses could be crucial.

The Zebra, Pelican and Puffin Pedestrian Crossings Regulations 1997 prescribe an absolute duty for the driver to stop if anyone is on the crossing. Therefore even if the pedestrian ran out into the road it can be difficult for a driver to escape liability all together. Hence in some situations it leads to a split in liability whereby the driver and the passenger are both to blame to some extent.
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We often get asked how long a particular claim will take. In response, I would ask how long is a piece of string? Jokes aside, the truth is that it is impossible to say with any certainty how long your claim could take. At the outset of the claim it is impossible to predict.

All lawyers rely to a certain extent on other businesses/people whether that be insurers, other solicitors, clients, the courts etc. We endeavour to do our part as soon as possible but if for example, an insurer is failing to respond to us, we can take action via the courts to progress matters but we have to comply with the relevant protocols (which for example means that we have to give the insurers a certain amount of time in which to respond to the claim). However protocols are a good thing and are designed primarily to speed up the claims process.

To initiate an accident at work claim we basically draft a letter to the Defendant known as a “Letter of Claim”. This letter will set out the nature and circumstances of the Claimant’s claim, reasons why the Defendant is at fault and the relevant disclosure documentation that should be provided if liability is not admitted. The Defendant or the Defendant’s insurers have a period of 21 days in which to acknowledge receipt of the Letter of Claim.
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This is a specific little area of law and an area in which people may refrain from asking about. If you made the mistake of getting into a stolen vehicle and you are subsequently involved in an accident, sustaining injury as a result, can you make a claim for compensation? Well to put it bluntly a lot will depend on your knowledge as a passenger. Did you knowingly get into a stolen vehicle or were you unaware that the vehicle was stolen?

If you knowingly got into a stolen vehicle and you are then involved in an accident, sustaining injury, then the law says that you may not have the right to bring a compensation claim. This comes under the latin doctrine of “ex turpi causa” which basically means that from a dishonourable cause an action does not arise. In simple terms this means that you may struggle to claim compensation as your injuries were sustained when you were completing or assisting in an immoral or illegal act. To law abiding citizens, this rule is accepted and clearly justified.

Now it is very different (as common sense would suggest) if a person is injured in a stolen vehicle and that person was unaware that the vehicle was stolen. This would be an unusual scenario but it is not totally unheard of. The most likely scenario would be if someone offers a stranger a lift.
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With any personal injury claim, you can seek to recover compensation for the pain and suffering that your injuries have caused (this is called General Damages) and you can seek to recover compensation for any losses or expenses that you have sustained as a result of the accident or your injuries (this is called Special Damages).

Special Damages can cover a wide range of things. In terms of a suffering a whiplash injury, Special Damages could be awarded for the care and assistance that you have received.
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Pedestrian crossings are in place to help people safely and successfully cross over a road. On busy roads they are very useful as I find that the majority (unfortunately not all) drivers will stop to let pedestrians cross. Unfortunately not all drivers stop and it can be infuriating for the pedestrians when this occurs.

Unfortunately there will always be some drivers who don’t consider others. Even if the road is not necessarily a busy road, I would still recommend that you use a pedestrian crossing to get to the other side. Basically if you want to cross a road and there is a pedestrian crossing in sight or somewhere close by, you should use it. Put simply, if you cross and are involved in an accident then you may be partly at fault for not crossing in the safest area (i.e. the safest area would be the pedestrian crossing).

If you failed to use a pedestrian crossing and you subsequently became injured in an accident, the other side are likely to argue that you are partly at fault for your injuries by not using the pedestrian crossing. This is an allegation of contributory negligence and if agreed or found by a Court, then your damages would be reduced accordingly. If you are not found to be fully at fault, you can still claim compensation. If contributory negligence is agreed at, say 20%, there would be a 20% deduction in any damages that you would receive. In some cases (depending on the severity of the injuries) this kind of deduction could amount to thousands of pounds…
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Accidents in sports centres are more common than most people realise. Unless you work in a law firm you probably do not realise the amount of accidents and enquiries that we receive to do with sports centres. Accidents in sports centres (and in particular at the gym) are fairly common. Perhaps one of the main reasons for the increase in accidents is the increase in people attending the gym.

It is the responsibility of the owners of gyms and leisure centres to ensure that the premises are safe for the public to use and to eliminate any potential risks. The owners leave themselves open to personal injury claims if they do not provide a safe environment for the public.

Gym injuries could occur for a variety of reasons. There are the obvious accidents such as people slipping on a wet floor or tripping over mats or equipment. Injuries can occur through use of gym equipment especially if the person was not given any instruction on how to use certain equipment. When you start at a gym, if you are not familiar with the equipment, then you should be given a formal induction whereby you are shown how to use all the facilities in a safe and proper manner. Most gyms will insist on a mandatory induction even if you have used previous gyms in the past. If you are lifting weights for example, you can easily sustain injury if you do not use the correct procedure or technique.
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