Personal car accident and work injury compensation claim at Injuries Direct

A significant payout has been made to a woman who suffered injury after being hit by a car in Hampton, West London.

The woman, who is from Hampton, made her accident compensation claim three years ago, after being hit by a car while she was using a pedestrian crossing.

A Volkswagen Golf hit both her and a friend one night in February 2006. Having been taken to Kingston Hospital, she was treated for a number of injuries, including a fractured leg, wrist and cheekbone and a broken pelvis. The woman was forced to remain in hospital for a month and a half.

The solicitors representing the woman said that CCTV recordings of the incident showed that no evasive action was taken by the driver. It was a dual carriageway, yet the driver did not move into the inside lane to avoid the pedestrians, even though there were no other vehicles, nor did they brake before the collision.

Speaking after being awarded compensation, the woman said:

“I have tried to tackle my injuries by working hard to recover and get back to the life I had before. But there have been times I have found this very difficult and a huge financial worry. I am used to being financially and emotionally independent and the accident has turned my life upside down. Now that the case is settled, I can look forward to trying to get on with my life.”

A Staffordshire pensioner is still pursuing an accident compensation claim two years after falling as a result of an uneven paving slab near where she lives in Trent Vale.

The woman suffered several injuries and says she is in constant pain, but has not received any compensation from the council.

The accident happened as a result of a loose paving slab. Having since measured the slab in question, the woman says it was sticking up more than an inch. She damaged her shoulder joint and has had to undergo an operation to prevent the bones from rubbing against each other. A second operation is scheduled for later in the year.

Currently, the woman struggles to lift items and is frustrated that she has lost a degree of independence.

“I was a very keen gardener, but now I have to hire someone to keep my garden under control because I just can’t do it.”

She fails to understand the rejection of her claim as she has provided pictures of her injuries and other people have also complained about the same stretch of pavement.

Speaking about the injury, a local councillor said:

“The city council has met the legal standard for highways inspection and maintenance for the area and her claim, which was considered and dealt with independently by the council’s insurers, was not accepted.”

Many companies offer health and safety courses and manual handling courses to their employees. These are seen as a necessity for some jobs as you may have to use these skills to perform your everyday duties. So, what do you say to your employer if they ask you to perform a task like moving a heavy desk or heavy office equipment and they haven’t provided you with adequate training on how to lift safely? The simple answer is no!

Your employer should not ask you to perform tasks that may cause you harm if you are not adequately trained. Lifting and manual handling are one of the main reasons of accidents in the workplace and many of these could be avoided if the employer took responsibility for their actions and did not ask in the first place.

You could in fact be doing your employer a favour by refusing. If your employer has to pay a personal injury compensation claim because one of their workers has been injured, the costs incurred may far outweigh the small costs incurred if they used a removal company or if they paid the training costs for their own personnel.

A sports centre worker has been awarded £50,000 in compensation for injuries after an injury he sustained while at work led to his retirement.

The Rochdale worker was attempting to remove a set of steps from a swimming pool as they were faulty, but hurt his back in the process. The man was initially off work for a period of four months, but eventually returned, taking painkillers regularly.

However, four months after his return, he was forced to retire completely after aggravating the injury while taking life guard training. Rochdale council settled the claim after he commenced legal proceedings.

A UNISON spokesperson said:

“Back injuries are preventable and yet they are one of the most common forms of injury amongst workers and millions of pounds are awarded in compensation each year.

“It would make sense for employers to listen to staff and put training in place to prevent these type of injuries.

“Employers must comply with their duties under the Manual Handling regulations and carry out proper risk assessments, or risk paying the price.”

For his part, the worker is devastated by his loss of independence, saying that he will have to have epidural injections for the rest of his life in order to manage the pain.

A man has received compensation for injuries following a car crash in Lanarkshire in Scotland.

The man, from south Lanarkshire, suffered severe head injuries after a motorist who was at the time banned from driving hit the car he was driving.

The driver who caused the crash subsequently received a nine month jail sentence. It was found that in addition to being banned from driving, he had also been drinking and was over the legal limit. He did in fact hit the oncoming car while on the wrong side of the road.

The victim has suffered extreme distress since the incident. Described as a quiet man prior to the accident, he has since suffered from anger and aggression. In addition to this, he experiences a low tolerance of noise, has difficulties concentrating and struggles with his sense of balance, which affects his walking.

Having spent 28 weeks in a specialist unit for rehabilitation from brain injuries, it was decided that he should receive £3.3million in compensation for injuries, much of which will go towards care.

A Dundee pensioner is set to sue a local supermarket after being struck on the head by a pineapple while out shopping.

The 76 year old is seeking compensation for injuries after being knocked to the floor when the pineapple fell off the shelf in Tesco and struck her on the head. She claims to have suffered concussion as a result of the incident.

Saying that the shelf was poorly stacked, she has taken legal action against Tesco and is seeking several thousand pounds in compensation.

A Tesco spokesperson, speaking about the incident, commented:

“Customer safety is very important to us and we are looking into what happened, our best wishes are with Mary Raimo for a speedy recovery.”

Speaking on behalf of the victim, her lawyer said that the woman had been experiencing neck pain and headaches, long after the incident and reaffirmed that she was looking for several thousand pounds in compensation.

She also added:

“She is hoping for compensation on the basis that Tesco negligently stacked the pineapples.”

That particular Tesco supermarket, in Lochee, has since closed.

Whether you work in an industrial environment, in an office or at home there is always the possibility that you may have an accident. Usually it can be very minor and only leave you with bruises or a strain that does not need medical attention or treatment. However, sometimes accidents can be serious and the person may suffer life threatening injuries.

An accident at work occurred recently when a worker was walking up a flight of stairs and was holding the banister to steady him whilst alighting. Unfortunately the banister at the top of the stairs came away and he lost his balance.

The worker fell down the stairs and injured his shoulder and his hand. Because of the incident he had to take time off work and receive hospital treatment. He made a personal injury compensation claim as he believed that his employer was liable for the injuries he sustained and was successful because evidence showed that the banister was not maintained and was not in a good state of repair.

He was offered an undisclosed sum for the injuries he sustained due to the accident at work.

Workplace accidents can be particularly difficult to come to terms with for the victim of the accident. They may have feeling of guilt associated with having to make a claim, but if safe systems of work were not in place, or your company did not follow an adequate health and safety policy you should not feel guilty about making a claim. Your employer has to provide you with a safe working environment where you can perform your everyday duties and tasks without the possibility that you make face a potential accident.

An accident occurred at a print factory when a worker tripped over a protruding pallet that was left in a walkway and fell sustaining a back injury. The worker had previously informed a colleague that the pallet should not have been placed in that location because it presented a tripping hazard.

The worker suffered pain to his back that required treatment and time off work to recover. He pursued a claim for personal injury compensation against his company and won the case. His company had to pay him an undisclosed amount to cover his costs, lost earnings and compensation for injuries he sustained.

Claims for cases of medical negligence can be stressful for the claimant. It is usually the case that the claimant has suffered some sort of personal injury or stress caused by not receiving the duty of care that they were entitled to. This may have been because they were wrongly diagnosed or a health care professional did not perform their duties properly.

Figures have just been released showing that compensation payments by the NHS to cases of medical negligence victims have risen by an astonishing 22 per cent in the last financial year. In the financial year 2007-2008 payments totalled £661 million and in this financial year £807 million.

The chief executive of the NHS Litigation Authority Steve Walker does not however think that this increase reflects the potential deteriorating standards of the National Health Service.

“This year saw an increase in the number of claims settling in the £100-500k range, resolution of over 100 catastrophic injury cases held back pending final agreements on how to apply the Thompstone ruling to periodical payments, significant numbers of settlements involving conditional fee arrangements and, as ever, judicial inflation running at well in excess of RPI,”

It is a sad statistic that over 30,000 pedestrians are injured each year in the UK as a result of being involved in a collision with a motor vehicle. It may be the case that the pedestrian was crossing the road at a pedestrian crossing or that the pedestrian was simply walking along the pavement when the accident occurred, if you have been involved in an accident where you were a pedestrian and you were hit by a motor vehicle there is a possibility that you may be entitled to personal injury compensation from the driver’s car insurance policy. If the driver is uninsured or you were hit by a stolen vehicle you may also be able to make a claim but it will be against the Motor Insurance Bureau.

Recovering from an accident of this type may take a long time, and in some cases the claimant may not fully recover. If you are successful in an accident compensation claim of this type you may be entitled to a sum that will help with your recovery, will pay for costs incurred in your recovery and may contribute to any future costs you are liable to make.