Suffering accidents in a public place like an airport can be a traumatic experience. So if you’re asking ‘What are my rights after an accident at an airport?’ and thinking about making a personal injury claim for the harm caused, this guide can help.
In the sections below, we will explain your rights after an airport accident. We’ll look at who can start an airport accident claim for compensation against the liable party and what sort of damages could apply.
There are time limits for making personal injury claims, which are explained in detail below. Our guide finishes by looking at how a solicitor from our panel could take up an eligible airport accident claim using a No Win No Fee agreement.
To see if you qualify to access expert legal representation after suffering bodily or mental injury in an airport caused by a liable party’s actions or inactions, speak to our dedicated team now:
- Call 020 8050 2736 to talk about your personal injury case.
- Request a call back by filling out our claim online form.
- Ask our live discussion option a question about how to claim compensation.
Jump To A Section
- What Are My Rights After An Accident At An Airport?
- Can I Claim For An Airport Accident?
- How Do I Make An Airport Accident Claim?
- How Much Compensation For An Airport Accident?
- What Is The Time Limit For Making An Airport Accident Claim?
- Claim For An Airport Accident On A No Win No Fee Basis
- More Useful Resources About Personal Injury Claims
What Are My Rights After An Accident At An Airport?
To answer the question ‘What are my rights after an accident at an airport?’ we start by looking at who qualifies to make a personal injury claim. There are eligibility criteria that must be met which shows that your injuries were the direct result of a breach in the duty of care owed to you.
This duty is described in the Occupiers’ Liability Act 1957. It states that any third party in control of an area open to the general public must take steps considered reasonable to implement measures that prevent the risk of harm. Therefore, the basis of a valid claim needs to show:
- You were owed a duty of care at the moment of your injury.
- Those responsible breached this legal obligation.
- Your injuries were caused in part or in full because of this.
This guide focuses on your rights in UK airports. If you had an accident elsewhere, it’s still worth speaking to our team for free advice and to find out if you are eligible to claim compensation.
Can I Claim For An Airport Accident?
With duty of care law in mind, the following are examples of how airports might breach their responsibility in a way that causes harm and would form the basis of a personal injury claim:
- Disorganisation at the baggage reclaim creates a backlog. A customer trips over luggage left on the floor, falls and suffers a shoulder injury.
- A wet floor surface is not attended or clearly marked off, causing a traveller to slip and fracture their knee.
- Staff operating moving machinery in the departure lounge failed to pay attention and collided with a passenger causing them multiple cuts and bruises in a crush injury.
- Food and restaurants in the airport fail to clearly indicate hot surfaces and a customer burns themselves on a serving area.
Can I Claim For An Airport Accident As An Employee?
Employers owe a duty of care to their staff as well. This is outlined in the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 (HASAWA). It expects employers to take reasonable and practicable steps to make sure that employees are not harmed as they work. You could have a personal injury claim for injuries sustained if your employer breaches their legal duty, for example:
- The airport management fails to train staff on the correct manual handling methods which results in an employee suffering a back injury at work.
- Another example would be if they failed to provide staff with essential and correct personal protective equipment (PPE). Because of this, an employee suffered cuts to their hands in the cold and wet while loading or unloading the planes.
To discuss what are my rights after an accident at an airport, call one of our advisors.
How Do I Make An Airport Accident Claim?
A personal injury claim after an airport accident needs to prove liability for the injuries you sustained. When gathering evidence for your claim, the following is useful:
- Take photos of your injuries and what created the bodily injury.
- Request copies of medical information from the hospital, your GP or other specialists you need to see.
- Airports have extensive CCTV and you may be able to request footage showing such incidents.
- Request a copy of the incident report from the airport accidents book.
- Get witness contact information so that statements that support your side of events can be gathered later.
For free advice about steps you can take to support your airport injury claim, speak to an advisor. They can also go through what are your rights after an accident at an airport with you.
How Much Compensation For An Airport Accident?
Should your airport accident claim be a success, there are up to two heads of loss that can make up the compensation. The principle head is called general damages and this compensates the person for the physical injuries sustained. Also, any psychological pain and suffering caused by the accident can be assessed under this head. Other factors like the long-term impacts of disability are valued and consideration is given to how prolonged the recovery plan might be.
The personal injury lawyer or legal personnel who calculates general damages can refer to medical reports as their guide. With this in mind, a solicitor from our panel could help organise an independent assessment for you. This provides a detailed medical report about your injuries and is useful evidence.
Also, documents like the Judicial College Guidelines (JCG) could be consulted in conjunction with medical reports. This publication offers a list of various head-to-toe injuries based on type and severity. To illustrate, we’ve put together a table using entries from the JCG below.
Please bear in mind that these are only guidelines and our table includes a topline figure that does not come from the JCG:
Compensation Guidelines
| Area of Injury | How Severe? | Award Guidelines | Definitions |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cases of multiple injury and special damage payments | Severe | Up to £500,000 plus | Awards of this size typically include multiple forms of severe harm and special damage payments for issues like care costs, medical bills and lost earnings. |
| Head | (b) Moderately Severe | £267,340 to £344,150 | A very serious level of disability that requires a far-reaching reliance on others for basic needs. |
| (d) Less Severe | £18,700 to £52,550 | A good recovery but some persisting issues with concentration, memory and mood. | |
| Back | (a) Severe (iii) | £47,320 to £85,100 | Disc lesions, fractures and soft tissue damage that cause severe discomfort, pain and impaired mobility. |
| Severe Leg | Serious (iii) | £47,840 to £66,920 | Serious comminuted or compound fractures or ligament and joint injuries that create instability and require prolonged treatment. |
| Ankle | (b) Severe | £38,210 to £61,090 | Injuries that require a prolonged period in plaster and/or with the insertion of surgical pins with severely limited walking ability. |
| Pelvis | (b) Moderate (i) | £32,450 to £47,810 | A significant level of injury to the pelvis/hip but permanent disability (or future risk of) is not considered great. |
| Neck | (b) Moderate (i) | £30,500 to £46,970 | Dislocations and fractures that cause immediate symptoms and chronic conditions that might require surgery. |
| Hand | (f) Severe fractures to fingers | Up to £44,840 | Injuries that might require a partial amputation leaving the hand deformed, clumsy and with reduced grip. |
| Shoulder | (b) Serious | £15,580 to £23,430 | Dislocations and brachial plexus nerve damage that leave pain, aching, weakened grip and sensory loss. |
Can I Claim For Loss of Earnings In A Personal Injury Claim?
You may also qualify to claim special damages. This second head of loss reimburses the claimant for the financial harm caused by their injuries, which includes loss of earnings. To be included as part of a personal injury claim, these amounts need to be substantiated with documented evidence.
For instance, you could submit wage slips that show how you lost income because of time off work recovering. Or you might have receipts and invoices showing:
- Medical expenses and costs for rehabilitation needs
- Damage to your pension contributions or attendance bonus.
- Proof of paid travel costs for essential appointments.
- Receipts for amounts paid to people who provided you with domestic care.
For free advice about what could be included in your claim, contact an advisor. They could also help explain what are your rights after an accident at an airport.
What Is The Time Limit For Making An Airport Accident Claim?
The Limitation Act 1980 lays out a three-year time limit for personal injury claims. This typically starts from the injury date. However, certain variations to this time limit apply. For example:
- The time limit is paused for minors until they turn 18.
- For claimants who lack mental capacity to manage a claim, there is no time limit. It starts only from the date that mental capacity returns (if it does).
- Both categories of claimants can have a litigation friend put in place by the courts who can launch a claim on behalf of the injured person at any point while the limitation period is suspended.
For more information about the limitation period and to find out if you are still within the personal injury claims time limit, speak to an advisor about your airport injury.
Claim For An Airport Accident On A No Win No Fee Basis
You could benefit from help when trying to answer the question ‘What are my rights after an accident at an airport?’ The expert No Win No Fee solicitors on our panel have been negotiating the best settlement for their clients for decades.
If they can take up your claim, they will offer direct support with the collecting of evidence and can interview eyewitnesses to obtain statements that support your side of events. In addition to this, they will guide you through the entire personal injury claims process and explain any complex legal jargon.
These personal injury lawyers are able to offer these excellent services through a type of No Win No Fee agreement called a Conditional Fee Agreement (CFA). This usually means that:
- You can start work with a solicitor without the obstacle of any upfront or ongoing legal fees for their services.
- If the claim is not a success, no solicitors fees are required for their completed services.
- But if the claim does settle in your favour, you are required to pay a small legally restricted success fee to your solicitors.
- This is a percentage taken from the compensation awarded to you. The amount ensures that the majority of the claim for compensation goes directly to you.
Interested? Advisors can assess the merit of your compensation claim in one simple phone call. Simply:
- Call 020 8050 2736 to talk about your airport accident claims.
- Request a call back by filling out our claim online form.
- Ask our live discussion option a question about the circumstances of your injuries.
More Useful Resources About Personal Injury Claims
Other helpful guides:
- Information on what to do if you fell down stairs in a public place
- Read more on claims for slipping on a wet floor in this guide.
- Advice on public place escalator claims for injury.
External resources:
- When to call 999 from the NHS.
- Also, use the NHS symptom checker to understand more.
- Lastly, information on health and safety in the airport industry is in this link.
In conclusion, we hope this article has helped answer the question ‘What are my rights after an accident at an airport?’ For more information on how much compensation you could be owed, speak to our advisors.
