Personal Injury Claims UK

Being able to make a successful personal injury claim revolves around negligence. Certain third parties have a duty of care to you and, if you injure yourself due to them breaching this duty of care, you may be able to claim due to negligence. There are three requirements to prove negligence. They are:

• That the third party has a duty of care to you.
• That you have evidence showing that the third party breached their duty of care.
• And it’s this breach that led to your injury.

There are several other factors to consider if you’re looking to make a personal injury claim.

• There is a personal injury claims time limit. You generally need to make a claim either three years from the date of the incident or three years from the date you became aware of negligence at least contributing to the injury. This is outlined in the Limitation Act 1980.
• Someone under the age of eighteen or someone who does not have the capacity to make a claim can still potentially have one made on their behalf. In these instances, someone would need to be named their litigation friend so they can claim on the injured person’s behalf.

You can also make fatal accident claims if your loved one has passed away due to an accident they weren’t liable for. Legal experts, such as No Win No Fee lawyers, could help you with this.

Tips On Proving Personal Injury Claims

The success of any case comes down to the strength of the evidence, and the same applies to personal injury claims.

Evidence is used to prove to the defendant and to the court that your case is valid. A failure to provide evidence to support a claim means it’s unlikely a defendant would pay out compensation.

Obtaining evidence is one of the most important stages of a personal injury claim. Luckily, there are lots of easy ways that you can gather what you need. Here are some tips: 

• Check to see if there is any CCTV footage of your accident. This could come from security cameras, for instance. In road traffic accidents, some drivers may also have dashcams that could capture the incident.
• If you’re able to, take photographs of the scene of the accident and what you believe the cause of it was. For example, if you tripped over a pothole, take clear pictures of it. 
• To ensure that you get compensated for any financial losses caused by your injuries, keep all receipts, bills and invoices. For example, if you had to get a taxi to places where you’d otherwise drive, keep a log of each journey and a receipt showing the cost. Likewise, keep the receipts of any medication you had to pay for. The same goes for any lost earnings if you had to take time off work and didn’t get paid. Keep hold of your payslips for the months before your accident and then the months since it happened so it’s possible to work out the difference in pay. 
• If your accident was recorded in a report book, try to get hold of a copy of the entry and make sure that what’s been recorded is an accurate reflection of what happened. This is particularly relevant to workplace accident cases and public liability claims, such as accidents in a restaurant. 

For more advice on proving personal injury claims in the UK, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with us. We’re more than happy to answer any question, big or small.