UK MOTOR ACCIDENT CLAIM

A motor accident claim for damages for personal injury is treated in the same way as any other potential court litigation in that the injured party needs to establish that the accident is somebody else’s fault or at least partially someone else's fault. This is the concept of ‘negligence’ which requires that the other driver, who owes a duty of care to other road users, has failed to act in a reasonable way as a result of which an accident has occurred. If reasonably foreseeable loss or damage or personal injury has directly arisen from that negligence then the other driver is liable to pay compensation to the innocent victim.

There is a time limitation in the UK and most claims must be settled or legal proceeding must have been issued in a court of law within three years of the injury coming to the attention of the claimant and that date is usually the date of the accident itself. There are exceptions to this rule in the case of infants and the mentally ill and the court does have a wide discretion to extend or alter the period of three years but rarely exercises that discretion except in very unusual and rare circumstances. Time is of the essence and there should be no delay in taking legal advice as soon as possible following an accident.

Evidence preservation in a motor accident claim is one of the most important things that can be done to assist in proving liability and establishing the value of a claim for financial losses and pain and suffering. There following basic checklist should be followed if you are involved in a road accident :-

if there has been a personal injury report the accident to the police within 24 hours
make a note of the make, colour, model and number plate of the other vehicles that are involved
take down the personal details of the other driver including name and address and insurance documents
obtain and record the names and addresses of any witness and if they were driving a car take down the registration number of their car
as soon as possible after the accident write down every detail of the accident, your injuries and how those injuries have affected you
take photographs of the accident scheme, damage to the vehicles, road layout and injuries as soon as possible
keep a daily diary of progress of recovery from any injury and record any losses or expenditure
obtain estimates for repair or replacement of damaged or lost personal property
inform your insurance company as soon as you can after the accident
if you are injured visit your general practitioner or the Accident and Emergency department of a local hospital as soon as possible after the accident, preferably on the same day. A formal medical record of your injuries will be invaluable in settling your personal injury claim and most claims will fail without a contemporaneous medical record of the injury obtained very shortly after the accident.

If you have been injured in an accident within the last three years, do yourself justice and complete the contact form and we will immediately put you in touch with a specialist solicitor who deals with your type of claim. If after talking to that solicitor you decide to proceed no further you will not be charged for any advice.

HELPLINE 0845 890 4092

In the case of CICA claims terms will vary and in the case of MIB claims terms may vary.