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This is one of the most common questions I hear at The Injury lawyers when speaking to new (and existing) clients. It’s something that most claimers want to know right from the outset of the case.

But unfortunately, answering this question is a little trickier than you might think!

As a pioneer of the online compensation calculators, we know that they can help – but only as a guideline. Ultimately, the information you put in to the calculator dictates its response. The calculator (or at least ours) matches the information you put in to it to something called the JSB (Judicial Studies Board) Guidelines, which are official guidelines we as lawyers and judges at court use to value claims.

To value your claim properly, you need:

• A good quality medical report from a qualified medico-legal expert in the field of your injury (e.g. Orthopaedic for muscular / skeletal, Plastic Surgeon for cuts and burns, Dermatological for skin etc).
• An experienced, fully qualified and specialist personal injury lawyer.

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Whiplash is a common injury that is usually suffered after a road accident. It’s caused by the sudden jolting of your neck, either forward, backwards, or sideways. The muscles are stretched beyond their normal range of movement, and it can be an absolute pain to cope with!

Whiplash Symptoms

• Pain in the neck, shoulders, and back (either all three, or just some)
• Stiffness / loss of movement in the affected areas
• Headaches, drowsiness, and sometimes a feeling of sickness – even vertigo in some cases
• Pins and needles (normally in the arms)

It doesn’t matter whether you were hit in the rear, hit head on, were the victim of a driver pulling out of a side road or in front of you on a roundabout – the impact can easily cause a whiplash injury.
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If you live in rented accommodation, or a property owned by someone else, the onus to ensure your living space and communal areas are safe is largely on your landlord / property owner. This is of course circumstantial – if you leave a stack of your favourite DVD’s on the floor and you trip over them, or if you spill some water on the floor and forget to clean it up, later slipping on the spillage, then it’s your fault.  What I’m talking about is the condition of the premises, including the interior fixtures and fittings, being safe and usable.

To be honest, it’s rather similar to any claim against a supermarket or a shop. The building itself must be safe – i.e. floor surfaces must be even with no defects or tripping hazards, fixtures and fittings must be safe, ensuring nothing can fall off or break away whilst your using it, and the condition of the building itself must not pose a hazard to anyone.

Your landlord should regularly inspect and maintain the premises to ensure there are no potential hazards, and they should always act on any hazard being raised with them as a matter of urgency. If a resident reports that a drain is blocked and water is accumulating in a communal walkway and causing a potential slip hazard, they should get out immediately and either repair or make safe the area, cordon it off if required, or warn anyone using the walkway with appropriate signage.
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A lot of people are concerned and confused when it comes to thinking about making a claim – particularly in accidents involving slips and trips. I suppose the reason is that many people simply aren’t sure whether they can make a claim after being involved in a slip or trip accident. Furthermore, people genuinely feel a little “silly” about making a claim for such a seemingly “small” accident.

It’s better to approach the entire situation in a different way: your slip / trip accident is not in any way “silly” or “small” – particularly if you have been seriously hurt. At the end of the day, if you have been injured due to someone else’s negligence, you have a claim for compensation.

Any shop, restaurant, cafe, bar, club, pub, museum – any premises which you are allowed to freely access – involves a duty of care owed to you by the owners of the place you are in. The premises must be safe to use, and no hazards should be allowed to develop and endanger anyone in the area. It’s an obvious and sensible piece of legislation – without this important duty of care in place, no one would be responsible for preventing anyone from coming to harm.
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Given our extensive experience in dealing with road accident claims successfully, you come to appreciate more and more just how easy it is to end up in an accident. In fact, I personally notice potential hazards on the roads better than I used to having given advice and taken on the claims of countless victims in road accidents.

I also find that the law of averages, for some unknown reason, often applies to any near misses I’m involved in. I recall a few months ago I was almost a victim of 4 road accidents in one week alone! Well, it’s happened again the other day – I had two near misses in just one night, which really shows how easy it is to become a victim of a road accident!

My experiences the other night were, funnily enough, both similar in circumstance; and it got me thinking about an important area of road regulation: Lanes! Unfortunately, it seems there are still some drivers out there that do not appreciate the importance of changing and merging lanes safely:
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There are many questions you might ask when it comes to making a claim for compensation:

• Do I have a claim?
• How much am I entitled to claim for?
• When should I make the claim?
• Who should I instruct to deal with my claim?

There can be many more questions as well – it’s a confusing time after an accident to know exactly what to do. So, here’s a little advice that may just help you out!
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Being involved in an accident that was not your fault is a trying time for anyone. It can be confusing just thinking about which lawyer you should instruct, what happens next, how much you can claim for etc. There are so many questions, and so many different answers. So here’s a guide on what to do and what you need so you know what course of action to take.

What to Do

If you have been involved in an accident that wasn’t your fault, there are two things you need to do right from the start.

Step 1: at the scene of the accident, exchange details with all relevant parties involved:

• Road Accidents: exchange names, addresses, telephone numbers, vehicle details (reg, make, model, colour), and insurance information with any other vehicles involved in the accident, and any witnesses to the accident. If your injuries are debilitating enough to prevent you from this, the police should always be called.
• Accident at Work: if you need help, shout for colleagues for assistance, and ensure your supervisor or manager is called to attend. If you are able to do so, ensure the accident is recorded in an accident book, and you note the names of any colleagues that may have seen what has happened.
• In / On Premises (Shops, bar, restaurant, etc): again, if you need help, call for it. Ensure you speak to a manager or person in a position of authority within the premises to ensure your accident is recorded – get a copy of whatever they record as well. If there were witnesses, make sure you get their information.
• On the Street (Council Claims): again, if you need help, call for it. You can also take the details of any bystanders that may have witnessed your accident, and taking photographs of the general area and whatever caused your accident is an essential thing to do. If you are unable to take any photos there and then, make sure you return to the scene as soon as you can to take some.

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If there’s one thing we love here at The Injury Lawyers, it’s making sure accident victims get access to the maximum compensation they are entitled to claim for with the minimum of hassle and fuss for the claimant. Claiming for compensation is a common part of everyday life now – unfortunately, there are those out there ready and willing to profit from your claim in the wrong way – and this, we do not like.

Sure – we are a business. At the end of the day, we do turn a profit. But we always promise to go the extra mile with our clients by updating them far more frequently than most other firms, and spending more on our cases for a better outcome. So, who am I talking about?

Insurance Companies

If you’re a driver, check your motor insurance policy to see if you have the “benefit” of Legal Expense Insurance or “Legal Protection.” This is an extra on your policy which is normally either provided out of courtesy, or for a small annual fee. Your insurers will tell you that you are fully covered if you have an accident. Sounds great, right?
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“I’ve been injured in an accident – can I claim for compensation?”

The answer: “perhaps you can”

If you’ve had an accident, and it wasn’t your fault, you’ve just taken one huge step towards being eligible to make a claim for compensation.

The idea of claiming for compensation is based on you, the blameless victim who has ended up injured, being compensated for your pain, suffering, and financial loss. If the accident was caused as a direct result of another person or company’s negligence, it is likely you can make a claim.

At the end of the day, it’s not nice being injured. Suffering from a fracture, bruising, a muscular injury (such as whiplash), a strain, a cut (and subsequent scarring), or a repetitive strain injury is not a nice thing to have to deal with. You are entitled to claim for compensation for the injury (or injuries) alone, and you are entitled to claim back any financial losses, or expenses you have incurred.
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It’s been grey and miserable all weekend where I live; and it’s no better on the return to work on Monday morning. I’ve heard there has been a bit of snow around as well – all this just as I was acclimatising to the slightly warmer temperatures of 5- 8 degree Celsius following the big freeze we have had over the festive period.

The look and feel of the miserable and wet weather isn’t the only thing people need to be concerned with – driving conditions need to be at the forefront of people’s minds on a grey day like today. If you are involved in accident that wasn’t your fault, the weather is not a party to blame. If another vehicle has collided with yours because they failed to appreciate the requirement for an increased stopping distance in wet weather, or they came screeching around a corner or a roundabout too fast and have skidded due to the damp surface or the roads, they are still to blame.

Wet weather is not an excuse one can use to escape being liable to compensate the victim of a road accident. If anything, people should be driving with a great deal more care, and more accidents should be avoided. So if you are the victim – you can make a claim!
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