Archives
The MIB, Uninsured Drivers and £500 Million
Estimated figures published by the Department of Environment, Transport and the Regions in 2001 make for some grim reading, indicating that:
- Insurance evasion was running at between 4 and 6% of all vehicles in use
- Between 1 million and 1 ¼ million of vehicles on the roads were uninsured
- Accidents for which uninsured drivers were responsible cost the motor insurance industry over £400 million in 1999
- As a result each insured motorist ended up paying a further £15 to £30 premium on their policy
Insurers Pressuring Victims to Settle Claims Early
A leading road safety charity has moved to warn people against insurers who are acting to settle claims mere hours after accidents have taken place. Brake is concerned that insurers are encouraging victims to take a pay out before getting legal or medical advice. This problem with this is that, although it may be tempting to settle the claim quickly and gain compensation early, victims can be left out of pocket especially if they have longer lasting injuries. The pay outs offered are in full and final settlement of claims and mean that there is no legal option to claim any further compensation once this is agreed.
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General Damages: What are They and How are They Evidenced?
If you suffer an injury and liability is admitted by the third party then that is half of the battle won with making a claim. However, there is then a responsibility to provide evidence to support your injuries and this is part of the compensation aspect of the claim. General damages are provided in respect of pain and suffering and loss of amenity. This breaks down in to two parts:
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What is ‘Beat knee‘? It’s a joint disease, specifically known as osteoarthritis of the knee. A bursitis (inflammation of small sacs of fluid) develops below or underneath the kneecap as a result of severe or prolonged pressure on the knee, wearing away at the cartilage. This causes the joint to degenerate.
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Tanning Salons Feeling the Heat
A 10 year old girl has suffered 70% burns at a tanning salon as a result of a sixteen minute session unsupervised. Kelly Thompson was taken to hospital within hours of leaving the tanning salon in South Wales and would have required skin grafts had she remained on the sun bed for another two minutes. She has been warned that she will need to stay out of direct sunlight for up to ten years.
Overworked Midwives could lead to Lower Standards of Care
Recent statistics from the Royal College of Midwives (RCM) have announced that it believes only four of England’s ten Strategic Health Authorities will reach its target of one midwife for every 28 births. According to the BBC news website, the RCM believes that the government needs to employ an extra 5,000 midwives by 2012 to ensure that the level of care labouring women receive is both of a safe standard and of high quality.
Fact, more accidents happen in the workplace than anywhere else, do you know that your employer has a legal responsibility to make your work area as safe and secure as possible, this includes a safe working practises, training and machinery, not only to full time staff but to anyone that enters there factory. So what happens if you have an accident at work, are you entitled to compensation?
We are accustomed to using technology in our every day life, it allows the flow of information to be quickly and easily transferred; we are able to communicate with friends and family all over the world by talking, texting and sending emails; we take the use of cars, planes, ships and the availability of these resources for granted; even in shopping centres and airports we often choose the ease and speed of technology in the form of escalators and moving walkways, over our innate human ability to walk.
Plastic and Cosmetic Surgery Claims
It is reported that more and more men are opting to go under the knife and have cosmetic surgery in order to obtain the look they desire. The procedures favoured by men are nose jobs and liposuction. Whilst breast augmentation and eyelid surgery as well as face lifts all remain popular treatments favoured by women.
Armed Forces Personal Injury Claims
Prime Minister Gordon Brown has recently outlined his plan to have our troops out of Iraq by the summer of 2009. There are currently 4,100 British troops still serving in Basra. It is believed that the British Troops will begin leaving Iraq in March 2009 provided the Iraqi elections that are to be held in this month (January 2009) conclude peacefully.
