Some of us love work, and some of us dread going into work. But I would probably guess that not many of us anticipate having an accident at work which is not our fault.

There are many potential accidents that could happen at work.  Some of the main types of accidents we deal with here at The Injury Lawyers involve falling from a height, heavy lifting, industrial disease (such as Vibration White Finger), a lack of/insufficient work equipment which results in an accident, or a lack of/insufficient safety equipment which results in a lack of protection from a foreseeable hazard – leading to an accident.

It can be a mentally difficult task to claim against your employer. However, it must be bourne in mind that solicitors are here to act on your behalf, and employers must have insurance to cover these types of situations.  If you have had an injury and it was your employers fault then you have a right to bring a claim for compensation if you so wish and you should not be treated adversely whilst at work due to your claim. In fact, there is nothing your employer can legally do to adversely affect your employment, and we find that many employers are happy for you to make a claim from the insurance policy they have in place for this very reason.
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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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It would appear that people like you and me have become so fed up with potholes that we are taking things into our own hands and attempting to repair them ourselves.  According to BBC News a series of websites have been set up to combat potholes.  For example, Potholes.co.uk details the locations of potholes and has links people can use to help notify the council of the potholes.  Such is the craze on this website that there was even a poem competition dedicated to potholes! And here is the winning poem:

‘When almost dusk and light turns grey, potholes greedily grasp their prey’.

The BBC news also reports that the website FillThatHole has seen its users report nearly 50,000 potholes, and as a result, nearly 15,000 of these have been fixed.  Granted, this is some way short of all the potholes being fixed; but it is something and can go a long way to ensuring that people do not get injured or damage their vehicles as a result of these potholes.  And further, as a FillThatHole spokesman has commented, ‘it places extra onus on councils to fix the problem because it is in the public domain’.  In other words, the council know about the problem and should adhere to their duty to ensure the safety of its highway users and get it fixed ASAP.
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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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Now, you may think – what does the above title mean when it says ‘losses’.  Well, for any personal injury claim there is compensation amount that can be awarded for your injury, and there is a separate claim for your losses.  These losses are applied for separately to your injury compensation and are compiled in a Schedule of Loss. It is important that from the outset after your accident that you keep any receipts for costs that have been incurred as a result of your accident. This helps to support and evidence any losses claimed for a potential personal injury claim.

The items of loss which can be included in this Schedule of Loss I have listed below:

1. Loss of Earnings – this can be one of the most important items in a claimant’s schedule.   If you are employed/self -employed and have had time off work due to your accident then you may be entitled to claim for this item of loss. If you are an employed person then a solicitor would usually ask for 13 weeks of pay slips prior to the accident.  Your loss of earning is then calculated at an average of these wage slips.  If you are self – employed, a solicitor would usually ask you for 3 years profit and loss accounts and calculate the average this way.

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I would hazard a guess that most people are aware that driving without insurance is illegal.  However, we have many clients that come to us at The Injury Lawyers after being hit by an uninsured driver.  It can be a particular point of frustration for an accident victim that the driver who caused them to have an accident has been driving without the insurance; something which most of us have the burden of paying monthly or annually. It has been quoted that on average 23,000 people are injured and 160 people are killed after being involved in an accident with an uninsured driver.

Many of our clients are not only involved in accidents with uninsured drivers, but also with untraced drivers.  This again can be a point of anger and frustration for an accident victim that they have been involved in an accident, that was not their fault, whilst the driver at fault has fled the scene of the accident without the potential claimant being able to gain their contact/insurance details, and without being able to take note of a registration plate.  A recent news article brings this topic of untraced drivers to the forefront as it details an accident which took place on the M3 near Camberley where a man sadly died at the scene whilst another of the cars involved fled the scene.

The first question many of our clients ask after being involved in an accident with an uninsured or untraced driver is: ‘can I still claim?’  The answer to this is ‘yes’. Any claims with uninsured or untraced drivers can be dealt with through the Motor Insurers Bureau, or the MIB as they are more commonly known.  The MIB was formed in 1946 and is funded by motor insurance companies.  Ultimately the MIB is funded through a portion of what we pay for our motor insurance premium. The cost to us can be calculated at between £15 – £30 per policy.
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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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BBC News has recently reported that the government is providing councils across the country an additional £100m in a bid to repair the potholes that have appeared after last year’s tough winter.  As I am sure many of you reading this will be aware, last winter was one of the worst we have had in ages and as such, a great deal of damage was done to our roads.  The freezing conditions have meant that potholes of varying sizes have cropped up all over our highways because the water has seeped into cracks in the roads, frozen, and expanded: breaking the surface.  This in turn has meant that many accidents have occurred and many people have been injured as a result.  Here at The Injury Lawyers we have come across many cases where people have been injured due to an accident involving potholes.  For example, people have gone head over heels on their bicycles having cycled into a pothole, or people have fallen when crossing the road because they have tripped in a pothole.

BBC News suggests that last year alone over two million potholes were filled in, and with the weather being worse recently, the number of potholes to be repaired has increased.  However, it is also observed that even with this additional money there will likely be numerous potholes that still require attention when the money runs dry.

Your local authority has a duty to make sure that the safety of its highway users is not in danger because of the conditions of the roads.  What this means is that your local council has to undertake regular inspections of its highways.  For example, at least every 6 months; should any be faults be found, urgent action should be taken to make the necessary repairs.
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Supermarkets; you can either love them or you hate them. Many people favour supermarkets as they have everything under one roof, discounts galore, and plenty of choice. For some, they dread the weekly ‘big’ shop due to the hassle of queuing at tills and queuing in traffic to get in and out of the shop car park.  Whatever your feeling on supermarkets, I can hazard a guess that you would not anticipate having an accident whilst shopping in one that was not your fault.

There are many potential hazards in supermarkets. These can include a spillage that has been negligently left unmopped on the floor, causing a dangerous slip hazard, or an item left on the floor causing a trip hazard, or a poorly stacked shelf causing an item/items to fall on someone.  This is not an exhaustive list, as our clients here at The Injury Lawyers can vouch for having suffered all sorts of accidents whilst in a supermarket.
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Britain’s roads seem to be getting busier than ever. We always seem to be going the wrong way to the traffic – we may be in jams going to work, coming home from work, going to the shops on a Saturday, or even doing the school runs.

Not only this, but people’s lives seem to be busier and more chaotic. This fact coupled with the above means that we have roads that are more clogged with users who may not be paying the necessary care and attention to the road.

The result of the above can lead to more road traffic accidents.  If you have been involved in a road traffic accident and it was not your fault, then you may have a personal injury claim for compensation.
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