Injuries Direct - Personal Injury Claims

A biker who knocked over by an uninsured motorist has won a multi-million pound compensation claim.

53-year-old Stuart Bridge suffered severe head and brain injuries, as well as a fractured spine when he was knocked off his bike in Manchester city centre by uninsured Carli Bates.

The father of two had been riding to Withington Golf Club, where he worked as head green keeper at 6.45am on an October morning in 2006. Miss Bates hit him with her car, causing him to be thrown from his motorbike, across the car bonnet before landing head first into a bollard.

As a result, Mr Bridge has been left with slurred speech, balance and mobility problems and poor levels of concentration.

After a two-and-a-half year battle, Mr Bridge has been awarded £1.25million in motorbike accident compensation as a lump sum payment, along with expected annual payments of £57,500 to help pay for his future care.

Mr Bridge’s wife Anne-Marie said: “We’re glad it’s finally over. It has been a long time. The crash had a devastating effect on us and our lives will never be the same again.”

The money, awarded to Mr Bridge during a hearing in the Manchester District Registry of the High Court, will go towards paying for a specially adapted house, car, therapy and care, as well as lost income and pension.

The Motor Insurers’ Bureau, which was set up especially to compensate accident victims of uninsured and untraced drivers, admitted liability in this case and agreed the payout.

Miss Bates pleaded guilty to driving without due care and attention, as well as driving without insurance. She was fined £200 and given 6 penalty points on her licence.

Thousands of New Yorkers who fell sick after the 9/11 terrorist attacks are due to receive personal injury compensation payouts.

City officials have agreed to pay $657.5million (£437million) to many of the rescue and clean-up workers at the Ground Zero site.

Over 10,000 claimants have been waiting for deals since 2001 after they were made sick by thick clouds of smouldering dust and other wreckage. Unfortunately, only a few of the workers were insured for such work.

As a result the government at the time set up a special insurance company to handle claims from those who ended up falling sick or being injured.

Claims came flooding in not long after, some for cancer and respiratory illnesses. However, out of 10,000 claims for personal injury compensation, only six ended up in payment.

Now a judge along with 95% of the claimants must approve the new deal for it to take effect.

Individual workers could receive between a few thousand dollars, to payouts of over $1million depending on their injuries.

North Yorkshire Police have made a criminal compensation claim for damages after a prisoner started a fire in one of their holding cells.

The accused, Sarah Heseltine had been arrested for drunk and disorderly behaviour in Harrogate in the early hours of February 25th.

Prosecutors stated how she had recognised one of the police officers on duty after being dealt with them over a road traffic matter just a few days earlier. As a result she became very abusive; throwing herself to the floor and threatening them when they tried to pick her up and move her.

When she arrived at the police station her aggressive behaviour continued, and she threatened and lashed out at officers further.

Miss Heseltine, 31, is believed to have been given a t-shirt to wear and was then put in a holding cell. A short time later the cell had filled with smoke and the t-shirt was found smouldering on the floor. She had used a cigarette lighter which had been concealed from the police when they had conducted a search.

Police totalled up a compensation claim bill of £1,116.25, which would cover the destroyed t-shirt and the scorch mark damage to the floor of the prison cell.

Miss Heseltine pleaded guilty to be drunk and disorderly on the night of her arrest, as well as criminal damage in the cell. However, her solicitors contested the amount of compensation she was being asked to pay – saying it had come as “something of a surprise.”

The case was adjourned so the claim could be clarified with police. Miss Heseltine was bailed until the 30th March.

Supermarket giant Tesco has settled an injury compensation claim with the daughter of a woman who died shortly after she was injured by an automatic door.

Margaret Buxton, 84, died just months after suffering terrible injuries when her leg became trapped in the sliding door at a Tesco store in Nottingham.

The supermarket chain admitted liability for her injuries and agreed to make an out-of-court settlement with Mrs Buxton’s daughter, who made a claim on behalf of her mother.

After the door shut suddenly on her, Mrs Buxton suffered a large blood clot as a result of a cut to her leg. She also needed a skin graft from her thigh and underwent this operation in May 2008.

It’s believed that Mrs Buxton’s health deteriorated rapidly following this operation, and she was brought back into hospital again in November after she was found collapsed in her home. She died on the 6th December.

Compensation claim solicitors for the family said: “She suffered terrible injuries from the accident as a result of the faulty automatic doors which shut unexpectedly and forcefully, exposing an elderly lady with existing medical conditions to severe pain, suffering and distress.”

Inmates of a London prison are preparing to make compensation claims after an outbreak of salmonella.

Over 300 fell ill with diarrhoea and vomiting at Wandsworth prison in the south-west of the capital last September.

The prisoners claim that the Prison Service was to blame for the outbreak, which lasted for approximately seven days.

Notices were put up outside the prison when the bug first struck, telling people that visiting time was restricted.

At the time the bug was unknown but the Health Protection Agency (HPA) later confirmed that it was salmonella.

The agency then declared that a full report into the illness was to be issued last month, however as of yet this has failed to materialise.

Compensation claim solicitors representing a number of the inmates have said they cannot act until the report has been published.

One said: “What hasn’t been confirmed is how it happened. That’s what the report is about – was there negligence on anyone’s part?”

Rumours that suggest egg sandwiches were to blame are yet to be confirmed.

A Birmingham businessman who was allegedly threatened by a member of British Airways staff at Heathrow airport has lost his claim for compensation.

Mohammed Nazam, 50, claims he was told by a BA customer services manager that he would be kidnapped in his native Pakistan when he disembarked the plane if he did not stop arguing with him.

Mr Nazam was due to travel to the Pakistani capital Islamabad with his wife and two children because of a ‘family emergency’. However, whilst they were checking in a glitch on the computer system meant the process was delayed; which ended up causing them to miss their flight.

An argument broke out with BA staff after they told Mr Nazam that he would have to rearrange his travel arrangements for the next day. He told workers, including the BA customer services manager that the delay had not been his fault.

Mr Nazam said: “We continued arguing and he told me he was a ‘proper guy’ in Pakistan. He said that as soon as I got off the plane he could have me kidnapped and that he had big connections over there.

“It was shocking, this man was supposed to be helping me and sorting out my flight, and there he was threatening me.”

Now, British Airways are refusing to refund the £2000 cost of the missed flights and are dismissing any of the allegations against them.

A spokeswoman for the airline said: “The customers who were flying to Islamabad in July 2008 had not fully completed their details and when these were completed it was too late for check in. We offered to re-book the family on an alternative flight, however this offer was refused. The customer became abusive and as a result we refused him further travel.”

Mr Nazam, who is still pursuing a full refund from the company said: “What they’re saying is nonsense – I want my money back.”

A number of holiday makers are acquiring the services of compensation claim solicitors after falling ill onboard a Thomson cruise liner.

As many as 70 legal claims could be made against the tour operator by people who argue that hygiene standards were not up to scratch on the ship.

The passengers were travelling on the Island Escape over the Christmas and New Year period when an outbreak of norovirus spread around the ship. This caused many people to fall ill with vomiting, diarrhoea and fever.

Leicester couple Shaun and Elizabeth Shields fell ill with norovirus on the week-long cruise around the Mediterranean; something which they blame on the dirty conditions onboard the boat.

Mr Shields said: “If this had happened before, then I think we should have been notified and asked if we still wanted to go, but instead we were just flown out to Tenerife. I was told at one point there were over 300 people that had been ill.”

When the couple contracted the virus, they were quarantined in their cabin for two days to prevent any further spread of the illness, before being cleared with all other passengers for a full sterilisation to be carried out.

Thomson has disputed the compensation claims against them, stating that many customers have had a good time onboard the Island Escape. A spokesperson said: “We are very confident that guests due to travel onboard the Island Escape in the future will experience the excellent levels of quality and standards they expect from an Island Cruises ship.”

Visit our holiday accident compensation claims page for details if you have been in the same situation.

A new system to speed up the process of claiming car accident compensation has been looked at by parliament ministers.

Under the new proposals, there will be fixed stages and costs associated to what type of road accident the victim has and what injuries they have suffered.

The system could be similar to the current Motor Insurers’ Bureau scheme, which compensates those involved in an accident with an uninsured or hit-and-run driver. These are also awarded on a tariff basis depending on the type and amount of losses sustained by the innocent party.

The new proposals would introduce deadlines for the claimants’ and defendants’ solicitors to put forward their claim intentions.

Only sums between £1,000 and £10,000 will be covered by the new system – though a figure between these numbers make up the majority of car accident compensation payouts at the present time.

The scheme, which was developed in conjunction with the Ministry of Justice is due to come into effect from the 30th April.

Hundreds of patients who were treated at Stafford Hospital are making compensation claims against it.

Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust is currently facing legal charges following an investigation that showed patients were grossly neglected, ignored and generally mistreated during their stays at the hospital.

Approximately 220 compensation claims are currently being made, all for clinical negligence and/or breaches of human rights.

The investigation showed that patients were left in soiled bedclothes, unwashed and in a state of undress in front of other patients and visitors.

It was also revealed that patient’s families had to clean lavatories and public areas themselves, food and drinks were left out of reach and patients resorted to drinking out of vases to quench their thirst.

Julie Bailey, who formed the campaign group Cure The NHS after her mum died during her stay at Stafford Hospital said: “I am not in the least bit surprised at the amount of people who could put in claims. It just shows the extremity of the harm they were going over the years.”

If you have been affected by clinical negligence at a Mid Staffordshire hospital, or any other UK hospital, contact the Injuries Direct team for professional assistance.

New laws could require dog owners to obtain insurance to protect others from attacks.

The government’s proposals aim to give greater protection to members of the public from the threat of dangerous dogs, and will give them the right to easily make a claim for compensation if they are injured by a dog bite.

Currently the 1991 Dangerous Dogs Act bans four breeds of the animal – the Pit Bull Terrier, the Japanese Tosa, the Dogo Argentinos and the Fila Brasileriros – from all public places.

However, it will now be discussed whether these dogs should be banned from private property as well. This would mean that postal workers and others that need to go to people’s houses would be better protected.

Ministers are worried about an increased trend in keeping the dangerous animals as ‘status dogs’ – used to intimidate and threaten people. Approximately 100 people are admitted to hospital following a dog attack.

Local councils and the police could now be given powers to force dangerous dog owners to muzzle them, or to have them neutered.

Another proposal is to make it compulsory for third-party insurance to be taken out for dog owners, which will ensure that victims of attacks are compensated accordingly.

The postal union CWU has welcomed the proposals. General Secretary Bill Hayes said: “Thousands of our members are attacked at work every year. This reform cannot come soon enough.”