Could I Claim Compensation After An Accident On Public Transport?

By Cat Gosling. Last Updated 29th May 2024. If you’ve suffered an accident on public transport, you may be entitled to compensation. This guide will explain how you could make a public transport accident claim, under what circumstances you may receive compensation and answer questions such as, “can you sue public transportation?”

Should you have any questions about transport accident compensation, you can contact our advisors for free legal advice. They’re available 24/7 and can inform you quickly and easily if you’re able to claim compensation. Additionally, they can also put you through to our panel of public transport accident compensation solicitors who could work your case on a No Win No Fee basis.

Please remember that you’re under no obligation to use our services if you contact us. You can do this using the details below.

Call us using the phone number above.
Contact us through our website.
Tell us your query using the chat window on your screen.

Read on to learn more about how proving another party’s negligence is crucial to making a successful public transport injury claim.

Select a Section

The Definition Of An Accident On Public Transport
Establishing Liability In A Public Transport Accident Claim
What Could Cause An Accident On Public Transport To Happen?
Calculate Your Personal Injury Compensation Settlement
Use A No Win No Fee Solicitor
Talk With Us About A Claim After An Accident On Public Transport

The Definition Of An Accident On Public Transport

An accident on public transport is any unintentional injury caused while using public transport, leading to some form of pain and discomfort. Whether you want to make a bus accident claim or a train accident claim, the principles for claiming are the same: a party that owed you a duty of care, such as the company responsible for ensuring the public transport is safe, was negligent and this led to your injuries.

If your injury was caused by negligence, it’s understandable that you’d want to receive compensation for a public transport accident. To see if you’re eligible for compensation, you can contact us at a time that works for you. To do this, please use the details above.

Establishing Liability In A Public Transport Accident Claim

Road users owe each other a duty of care to prevent causing harm or damage to themselves and others. To uphold this duty of care, all road users need to comply with the Road Traffic Act 1988 and the Highway Code.

For example, if you were injured on the bus after the driver was speeding and stopped suddenly, causing you to fall from your seat, this could be considered a breach of their duty of care.

So, when could you claim for an accident on public transport? To form the basis of a valid public transport accident claim, you need to be able to establish that negligence has occurred.

Negligence, for the purposes of this kind of claim, occurs when:

You are owed a duty of care
This duty of care is breached
You are harmed because of this

To find out if you could make a claim for an accident on public transport, we recommend that you get in touch with our expert team. They can evaluate your claim for free, and potentially connect you with a solicitor from our panel.

Statistics

You may be wondering how often an accident on public transport happens. The Department for Transport provides public transport accidents statistics for Great Britain. Above is a graph detailing the total number of reported bus and coach occupant casualties from 2016 to 2020.

The statistics above show how often people have been injured on public transport. Casualties can range from cuts and bruises to severe fractures and head injuries. As you can see, there were 4,246 casualties reported in 2016, with only 1,506 reported in 2020. The figure for 2020 could partly be caused by lockdown regulations.

Overall, there were 16,874 casualties reported on buses and coaches across the five years. These statistics don’t state how many casualties resulted in a public transport injury claim. However, they are still significant.

Therefore, don’t assume you won’t be able to make a public transport accident injury compensation claim. If you’re able to prove that your injury was caused by negligence, you may be able to receive transport accident compensation. Contact us to see if you can claim using the details above.

What Could Cause An Accident On Public Transport To Happen?

We’ve already established that certain parties have a duty of care, such as road users or those in control of public transport. You might be able to claim compensation for an accident on public transport if another party’s negligence caused your injury. Examples of incidents you may be able to claim for include:

Road traffic accidents caused by a driver’s negligence. Regardless of whether the driver is the bus driver or another driver on the road, if they’ve been negligent and caused your injuries, you may be able to claim. For instance, a bus you’re on could swerve into another lane without indicating, resulting in a multi-car pile-up.
A slip, trip or fall in certain circumstances. For example, if there’s a faulty step on the bus that the company are aware of but don’t attend to, you may be able to claim if you’re injured because of it.
Suffering an injury because of a malfunction. For instance, the train door could trap your arm if the door is faulty but the train company have done nothing about it, despite being aware. It could result in you suffering a crush injury.

As with any accidents involving public transport that result in a successful claim, it’s important to remember that you need to prove that your injury was caused by another party’s negligence.

Calculate A Compensation Settlement

The amount of compensation you could receive for an accident on public transport is based on many factors. These include:

The length of your recovery period
The severity of the injuries
Whether you’ve suffered any permanent damage
The nature of the accident

There are two potential types of compensation for a public transport accident. Firstly, general damages relate to the pain and suffering caused by the injury. The amount you receive for this is dictated by factors such as the ones listed above. Furthermore, special damages relate to the financial losses suffered due to the injury. This means you could claim for:

Loss of earnings
Travel costs (to and from hospitals, for example)
Loss of future earnings
Private healthcare costs if the NHS couldn’t provide the care
Adjustments required for your home because of the injury

The Judicial College can give you a greater understanding of what you could receive for general damages compensation. They analyse previous payouts based on the severity of the injury. By doing this, they’ve created compensation brackets which you can see below.

Injury Type	Severity	Compensation Amount	Description
Multiple	Severe	Up to £100,000+	Multiple severe injuries and financial losses, e.g, lost earnings.
Brain	Less Severe	£18,700 to £52,550	Injuries in this bracket will lead to the injured person having a good recovery, including being able to return to work and take part in normal social life. However, there may be persistant problems like poor concentration and memory.
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder	Moderately Severe	£28,250 to £73,050	This bracket includes PTSD symptoms that lead to a better prognosis than with more severe types of the condition. However, the effects will most likely still lead to significant disabilities for the foreseeable future.
Back	Severe (iii)	£47,320 to £85,100	Injuries in this bracket includes disc fractures or lesions or soft tissue injuries causing chronic conditions that lead to continuing discomfort and severe pain, impaired sexual function and potential personality changes.
Shoulder	Serious	£15,580 to £23,430	This bracket is for injuries such as shoulder dislocation and lower brachial plexus damage leading to neck and shoulder pain.
Injuries to the Pelvis and Hip	Moderate (i)	£32,450 to £47,810	This bracket is for a significant injury to the hip and pelvis. However, there will be no major permanent disability caused with any future risk not being great.
Arm	Simple	£8,060 to £23,430	This bracket is for simple forearm fractures.
Elbow	Moderate or Minor	Up to £15,370	Most elbow injuries fall into this bracket, including tennis elbow syndrome, simple fractures and lacerations.
Severe Leg Injuries	Moderate (iv)	£33,880 to £47,840	Injuries in this bracket include severe crush injuries, usually to a single limb, and multiple or complicated fractures.
Knee	Severe (iii)	£31,960 to £53,030	This bracket includes injuries that will result in less severe disabilities that could still cause continuous symptoms including movement limitation.

These are similar figures to those you would receive if you use a personal injury claims calculator. However, please remember that these brackets only indicate what you could receive for an accident on public transport. They aren’t guarantees.

Every claim is unique so, should your claim be successful, the compensation amount can be dictated by many factors. To learn more about this, please get in touch with us at a time that works for you using the details above.

Use A No Win No Fee Solicitor

The benefits of using a No Win No Fee solicitor from our panel when making a public transport accident claim include:

No hidden fees or costs. If you want to use a Conditional Fee Agreement (the formal term for a No Win No Fee agreement), the solicitor will clarify all potential costs before you agree to use their services.
Not paying your solicitor’s fee whether during the claims process or upfront.
Only paying your solicitor’s fee once a settlement has been reached. Your solicitor’s fee will be a small, legally capped portion of your compensation.

Furthermore, the solicitors from our panel are experienced in claiming compensation for an accident on public transport.

Talk With Us About A Claim After An Accident On Public Transport

Our advisors are available 24/7, offer free legal advice and can answer any questions or queries you have about claiming for an accident on public transport. They can also tell you quickly and easily if you’re eligible to claim, and, if you want, they can also transfer you to a No Win No Fee solicitor from our panel so they can begin building your compensation claim.

However, please remember that you’re under no obligation to use our services if you contact us. Please do so using the details below.

Call us using the phone number above.
Contact us using our website.
Tell us your query using the chat window.

Further Resources

Would you like to know more about claiming compensation for an accident on public transport? If so, please use the below links.

If you’ve suffered psychological trauma, talking therapies could help you. To learn more about this, please refer to this NHS webpage.

More road traffic accident statistics for Great Britain can be found on the Department for Transport website.

Have you suffered a foot injury and would like medical guidance? If so, please read this article on the NHS website.

Why not check out more of our personal injury claims guides below:

To know more about receiving compensation for an accident on public transport, please contact our advisors using the details above.

Written by DUR

Published by VIC

Claiming Compensation For An Accident On Public Transport

Am I Able To Claim Compensation After An Accident On Public Transport?