Had a Road Traffic Accident? Time to Claim Personal Injury Compensation

After being involved in a road accident in which a person has suffered personal injury or injuries, the first step required is to call the police and ambulance services. If the personal injuries are not severe, obtain all the details of the driver and of the other vehicle or vehicles involved in the accident. If you are at fault for the accident then in the UK by law you cannot claim personal injury compensation. If your car is fully insured, the insurance company will pay for the repairs to the car. Personal injury claims can only be filed in the UK if the other driver was at fault. The time it takes to settle a personal injury claim can vary depending on whether the other driver has admitted that they were at fault. Every driver in the UK has to be familiar with the Highway Code and has to abide by them. The most common claim is for whiplash injury. When a person’s head is jerked suddenly forward and then backwards there is a possibility of a whiplash injury occurring. A whiplash can range from minor to fatal. If the injuries are minor, obtain treatment from a hospital or a general practitioner. Tell the doctor all the injuries that have been suffered. Some injuries are warm after an accident and cannot be felt immediately, whereas other types of internal injury’s symptoms appear after some time. Keep a record of all ailments that occur following an accident and don’t include any medical condition that may be there before the accident occurred.

Once all injuries have been treated and there is no further pain or loss in any bodily functions, then that is the time to file for a personal injury claim. The record of the accident, including details of the other vehicle's driver, plus of the vehicle and place of occurrence and personal details of any witnesses, will be required when filing a personal injury claim. If the claim amount is less then a thousand pounds the lawyer’s fees will not be compensated. In such cases people prefer to file their own claims to save paying a lawyer.

The major problem faced by most people who have had a road accident and want to file a personal injury claim is knowing the exact amount to claim. If the personal injury has resulted in loss of work or has caused permanent personal damage like the loss of a limb, being confined to a bed or requiring nursing services, these need to be taken into account. Working these losses out can be quite tedious. In such cases it is advisable to hire a lawyer who deals in road accident compensation claims. The claimed amount is going to exceed a thousand pounds and in the UK by law the legal fees will also be compensated. Therefore there is no need to worry about having to pay lawyer's fees.

Maintaining all records of the accident and any costs borne for medical care, loss of work, even loss of fuel in the car in case the car is a write off, can be claimed. The time required to get a court settlement can vary from six months to a year, depending on whether the other driver has taken responsibility for the accident - or the lawyer will have to prove that it was the other driver's fault.

If records have not been kept of the accident, this can be a big drawback in claiming personal injury compensation after an accident.