Accident Compensation Claims

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We are SPECIALIST accident claims solicitors with years of experience in acting for injured clients and successfully recovering millions of pounds in compensation.

1.Types of Accident

We can claim compensation for you whatever the circumstance, nature or whereabouts of your accident provided we can show the accident was entirely or partly someone else's fault. Common types of accidents in which we claim compensation for our Clients are:

1.1 Road Traffic Accidents

• In a vehicle
• On a motorcycle
• Whilst riding a bicycle
• On public transport
• Whether as driver or passenger
• As a Pedestrian walking along a pavement or crossing the road
• Because of a defective vehicle
• Whilst on holiday abroad
• Injuries to cyclists, motorcyclists and motorists caused by potholes in roads

Drivers, whether of cars, motorcycles, coaches, buses, lorries can be responsible:

• Where they drive too fast
• Take bends too fast
• Don't heed the conditions of the road, e.g., when wet, the bumpiness of the ground, speed limits, coning
• Pull out into a main road from a minor road without looking properly
• Don't heed the presence of motorcyclists
• Don't indicate their intentions sufficiently
• Fail to keep their distance from the car in front

Interesting Fact

As a passenger, if the driver of your vehicle, for example your spouse, friend or parent causes the vehicle to crash, you can claim compensation against their insurance; they won't have to pay it personally as it will be paid by their insurance company. That's why they have insurance and why they pay their premiums to their insurers; to compensate you for their neglect. We have acted for wives, husbands, parents and children claiming against each other and the compensation they have received far outweighs any increased premiums. You are the innocent party in the accident and you should be able to claim!

1.2 Accidents at Work

There are so many instances of work related accidents that just should not have happened causing workers terrible pain and financial losses. This is particularly so where employers are risking your health for the sake of making profits. The following are just some of the cases where our clients have won compensation:

• Slips or trips on debris or dangerous surfaces
• Lifting or manual handling
• Whilst working at height
• Exposure to violent attacks by patients or customers
• Lack of Training to do your job properly, e.g., having to use equipment that you have not been trained properly to use
• Co-workers not trained properly
• Unsafe, broken or dangerous equipment, plant and machinery
• Electric shocks
• No adequate risks assessments being undertaken by your employer
• Unsafe places or areas of work
• Unsafe systems of work and instructions how to work
• Bad working conditions
• Vision impairment due to VDU screens
• Wet floors
• Loose cabling and cluttered workspace
• Muscular Skeletal Disorders caused through work such as repetitive and heavy lifting, bending and twisting, repeating an action too frequentlyr or exerting too much force.
• On construction sites e.g., falling off ladders, roof and roof lights, over-turning vehicles, being crushed by collapsing structures, struck by excavators, trucks or other machinery. Slipping on treacherous surfaces. Lack of safety equipment provided

1.3 Trips, Slips or Falls on Pavements

These include:

• Slipping or tripping on defective pavements (e.g. slabs laying at different levels, holed, cracked, missing sections, not correctly filled in, loose and rocking)
• Defective water, gas or electricity lids

Tripping over a dangerous pavement can cause serious injuries. The frail and elderly are common victims. Injuries range from minor cuts and bruises to serious back and spinal, head and face and the exacerbation of and onset of arthritis. The psychology can be as painful; the indignity of the fall in public and the resulting lack of confidence of walking a pavement again. Some elderly victims become prisoners in their own home.

Victims usually claim compensation from Councils because those Councils are legally obliged to repair and maintain their pavements. The victim will only succeed if the pavement has been dangerous for an unreasonable period of time or the Council failed to act within a reasonable time of the danger being brought to their attention. This is sometimes difficult to prove no matter how obvious the pavement defect may seem. You need expert legal advice from us to win these types of cases. Of the claims we have successfully dealt with, the Council have broken the law; they either don't inspect the pavements as they should or fail to repair them properly. Pavements fall into rack and ruin.

Councils blame budgets and resources. That's not good enough. We pay Council Tax in part to keep our pavements in repair and safe. That is what Councils agree to do in return and that is what the law expects them to do. The elderly victim of a dangerous pavement who is unable to pay her Council Tax because her pension is not increasing in line with increasing Council Tax cannot refuse to pay her Council Tax. She has to pay as the law says so. Unfortunately, sometimes Councils are not so keen to reciprocate with their legal obligation to her to keep her safe when walking along a pavement.

Don't give up on these cases. We win many each year.

1.4 Trips, Slips or Falls on Pavements

Where can such accidents occur? Literally anywhere; in shops, pubs, bars, restaurants, night clubs, bingo halls, amusement arcades, fairgrounds, theme parks, holiday camps and resorts, caravan parks, offices, museums, galleries, theatres, cinemas, sports grounds, sports centres, parks, wildlife parks, farms. We have successfully claimed compensation for clients injured in such places because of, for example:

• Slipping because of wet floors or because produce / materials are on the flooring
• Items for sale stored wrongly and falling onto you
• Cluttered aisle ways
• Roller-skating staff bashing into you
• Inadequate sign posting of dangers
• Unsafe walkways
• Insufficient warning notices of dangers ahead
• Inadequate supervision or instruction

1.5 Trips, Slips, Falls and other accidents everywhere else

These can occur in all sorts of circumstances but the more common include:

• Sports centres
• In theme parks
• During outdoor pursuits or activities
• Whilst on a school trip
• Swimming baths
• Public playgrounds with hard surfaces
• Dangerous structures, buildings or places in which children have been attracted to play in, even if there are warning signs (such as 'Do Not Enter')
• Whilst on the school bus

1.6 Accidents specifically involving Children

This is an organisation to compensate the victims of vehicle accidents that have been caused by uninsured or untraced drivers ("hit and run cases");

1.7 Claims to the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority

This is an organisation set up to compensate the victims of a criminal assault.

1.8 Occupational Diseases

These are not so much accidents but rather diseases and ailments caused to you because of working practices at your place of work whether with the same employer or lots of different employers over a period of time including:

• Exposure to Asbestos or other hazardous and dangerous substances
• Vibration White Finger
• Mesothelioma
• Industrial Deafness
• Occupational Stress or Asthma
• Occupational Dermatitis
• Mucous Membrane Disorder
• Work Related Upper Limb disorder

2. What do you get?

We guarantee this: whatever you are awarded, you keep! You keep 100% of your compensation. You suffered the accident and you're the one who suffered the pain and losses. So, we believe you're entitled to it all. We have no time for Solicitors or Claims Companies who deduct their fees or fixed percentages from your compensation and nor should you. It's not necessary and is greedy. And we're not greedy lawyers!

3. Beware Ambulance Chasers!

There are many organisations these days 'chasing' accident victims to claim compensation for them. If those organizations are not solicitors themselves, we call them 'Claim Management Companies' or 'Claim Farmers'. These companies pass you to solicitors on their panel to act on your behalf. They are merely marketing companies concerned only with profit and their fees can affect the amount of compensation you receive. Avoid them at all costs. Cut out the middleman and come straight to us. It is your interests we are concerned about and not the profits of others.

4. What to do now?

If you would like to speak to us completely free of charge and with no obligation whatsoever to instruct us, then contact Nicola Davies, at our Cardiff Bay Office on our Contact Page or, alternatively, fill in our personal injury questionnaire and we'll get back to you by telephone as soon as possible.

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