In the last three years, 50% of those in an accident haven’t claimed compensation. Of that, 48% think the claims process will take too long, and 42% worry about the costs involved in a claim. National Accident Helpline calculates that £1.5 billion remains unclaimed from accidents in the UK in the last year alone.
Trainee Solicitor Mhairi McAulay and Personal Injury First Response Team Agent, Lewis Mullay break down the process of a personal injury claim and share some tips on how to help the process run smoothly.
The initial call
The first step is to get in touch with a Personal Injury Solicitor. At Thorntons, one of our specialist Personal Injury response team will take a statement from you; this covers several things. They will take your details and some information about your injuries, the incident that has caused those injuries, how it has affected you and how it could have been avoided.
To assist us in doing this, having photographs of what caused your injury is very helpful, particularly if you’ve slipped or tripped on something. We need to be able to see what caused your injury so we can tell whether or not it is a legal defect. Once we have photos, our Solicitors can advise on whether your claim is likely to succeed.
In the case of road traffic accidents, we need to know who is responsible, be that their personal details or ideally the registration number of their vehicle, but in the event that you weren’t able to get any details, there may be other avenues to pursue.
There are a wide range of types of claims beyond these, including accidents at work, product liability or medical negligence claims. If you have been in an accident that you believe has been caused by someone else we would be happy to discuss this with you.
The claim process
once your claim has been assessed, we will write to the person or organisation responsible for your injury. They are usually referred to as “the other party”. Once they have acknowledged that they have received our letter, the other party has 3 months to investigate your claim.
The other party will either admit or deny that they were at fault at this point. From here, we will begin negotiation on your behalf. During this process, we may need to obtain specialist reports from expert witnesses to provide evidence to support your claim. The other party may also ask you to talk to their own expert witnesses. There will be no cost to you for these expert witnesses.
Once liability has been agreed and a compensation award negotiated with the other party, they have five weeks to settle the claim. The duration of the negotiation process depends on the complexity of your injury and the incident, but it is always our aim to reach a settlement as soon as possible, whilst also ensuring you receive fair compensation.
The costs
At Thorntons, we offer no-win, no-fee personal injury claims. This means that there is cost to you in pursuing a claim. If we are unsuccessful in securing compensation for you, you do not have to pay our fees, or any expenses incurred. If we are successful in getting you compensation, we would retain 20% from any award of compensation. This means there is no financial risk for you.
If you are pursuing a claim for clinical negligence, we require a report from an expert medical agency to confirm that negligence has occurred. This is because the threshold for clinical negligence claims is much higher than a standard personal injury claim. The fee for this is £480, which we ask you to pay in advance of progressing any claim. However, we would never advise you pay this if we did not feel that your case has good enough prospects of success.
If you have been injured in an accident and believe you may be entitled to compensation, please contact our dedicated Personal Injury team on 0800 731 8434.
