Road Traffic Accident Claims

The government has decided that for Road Traffic Accident cases valued at less than £5,000.00 claimants should not be able to recover any legal costs as part of their claim. This affects accidents on or after 31st May 2021. Instead, the government believes you should represent yourself. You can read more about this here. There are many exemptions to this rule, for example if you were a pedestrian, a motorcyclist or a cyclist, or if you were riding a horse. Also, different rules apply if you are bring a claim on behalf of a child or a person who lacks capacity. As such, we always encourage you to get in touch with us so we can advise whether or not we can assist. The main challenge you face is knowing at the outset of your claim whether or not it is likely to be a Small Claim (i.e. low value). Given the complexities we encourage you to contact us so we can understand your specific circumstances and advise accordingly.

Road traffic accidents give rise to all sorts of injuries, from low-value aches and pains worth a few hundred pounds, to catastrophic life-changing injuries involving brain damage or spinal cord injuries worth significant sums of money.

In addition to compensation for your personal injury you can also claim for financial losses, such as lost earnings and medical expenses.  Unless you were a passenger or a pedestrian, you are likely to have incurred damage to your vehicle. If your vehicle requires repairs or has been written-off, we will liaise with your insurance company and can include these losses in your claim. We can also help to coordinate hire vehicles where appropriate to minimise inconvenience. 

We can also support you with rehabilitation such as physiotherapy so please contact us as soon as possible so we can make a start on your case.

You are still entitled to receive compensation even if an accident was partly your fault. It is not uncommon in road traffic accidents for liability (fault) to be shared between multiple drivers. This shared fault is reflected in your compensation. For example, if you are found to be 50% responsible for your accident, you will be entitled to 50% of the compensation award. We encourage you to get in touch with us if you are in any doubt about making a claim because of questions about who was to blame. It is much easier for us to advise on specific circumstances rather in general terms.   

If you are without a car as a consequence of an accident, we can liaise with your insurance company and your opponent’s insurance company to coordinate the provision of a courtesy or hire car. The cost of a hire car can be added to your claim. We can also help by ensuring that vehicle repairs are dealt with quickly.

If the other driver isn’t insured, you can still make a claim.  We will present your case to the Motor Insurance Bureau, which is QUANGO set up to compensate the victims of uninsured drivers.  Once we are instructed, we will explore all options to ensure you recover the maximum amount of compensation.

In most cases the time limit for starting a personal injury claim following a road accident in the UK is 3 years from the date of accident. For children this can be longer and likewise if a person has suffered catastrophic injuries and lacks mental capacity the time for bringing a claim can be extended. It becomes harder to succeed with a claim the more time has passed so we encourage you to contact us as soon as possible following an accident.