Road Traffic Accident Compensation Claims

How Road Traffic Accident Claims Work

As a road user you owe a legal ‘duty of care’ to all other road users. These include pedestrians, cyclists, passengers, motorcyclists and anyone else who uses the road. This duty of care means that as a road user that you must take reasonable care to ensure that any action you take, or any action you fail to take does not cause or injury to any other road user. 

If you should not take such reasonable care then you would be in breach of this ‘duty of care’ meaning you have been negligent in causing the said injury or damage. If you should be in breach of your statutory duty this would then mean that you’re liable/responsible for causing an accident.

Common types of accidents caused by breaching this statutory duty are:

• Concertina collisions this meaning a collision commonly involving three or more vehicles in which one vehicle shunts into another with such a force that the same vehicle is in turn forced into the one in front. 
• Collisions involving not braking in time and causing a rear end collision with a stationary or parked vehicle.
• Collisions involving vehicles emerging from a side road without giving way to the car travelling who has right of way and therefore colliding with the side of the car with right of way.
• Accidents which occur on roundabouts if a motorist has not used the correct procedure to enter or exit the roundabout, or is using the incorrect lane to travel around the roundabout.

You would be eligible to claim for injury or damage if you have been affected by a negligent road user’s breach of the statutory duty to take reasonable care in using the road. This applies to all other road users including pedestrians and passengers.

Should you wish to make such a claim you have 3 years from the date of the accident to bring legal action otherwise the claim will become statute barred. However, if the claim should relate to a child, then the time limit to bring an action is 3 years after they have reached their 18th birthday.

Starting a Road Traffic Compensation Claim with JCP Solicitors

If you’ve been involved in accident in which you have suffered an injury and/or damage and you wish to pursue a claim for personal injury with JCP Solicitors, we offer a free consultation in which you will put in contact with one of our dedicated team members from the Injury Services team. During the consultation we will take your contact details, the details of the person who caused your accident and/or their insurers' details and circumstances of the accident you have been involved.

Once we have this information it will be passed onto one of the senior members of the team to consider whether you have you have a valid claim, and whether that claim has sufficient prospects of success.

If you have a valid claim which has sufficient prospects of success, then we will have a file opened for you and send you our initial documentation, which will also include a draft letter of claim or claim notification form for your consideration. Once this has been approved we will then it to the person who caused the accident, (the Defendant), or their insurers to start the claim.

Here at JCP Solicitors we specialise in Conditional Fee Agreements, commonly known as, ‘No Win No Fee’ agreements. This option for funding a personal injury claim is very popular amongst clients as it allows them to pursue a claim for personal injury, without the worry of a hefty price tag associated with legal fees. A ‘No Win No Agreement’ essentially means that if your claim should be unsuccessful then you will not be charged, however if your claim is successful we then charge a percentage of the compensation you receive. This percentage is limited to a maximum of 25%.

Building Your Road Traffic Accident Claim

If you should decide to proceed with your claim, as noted above we will send the letter of claim or claim notification form to the Defendant’s insurers. They will then carry out necessary investigations in order to determine whether their insured party is liable (responsible) for your injury or not. Once this decision has been obtained we will then proceed to have the necessary evidence prepared in support of your claim. This evidence includes the following:

• Medical Evidence: This takes form of a medical report prepared by an appropriate independent medical expert following a review of your medical records and examination of you in order to prepare the report.
• Evidence of your out-of-pocket expenses: If you suffer any out-of-pocket expenses such as travel expenses, loss of earnings, care costs, treatment costs. You will need to provide evidence of such costs such as wage slips, invoices/receipts, travel tickets etc. in order to be able to claim these costs back.
• Engineering Evidence: This independent expert evidence will required in cases in which the mechanism or cause of the accident needs to be proved, such as in some road traffic accidents where perhaps the cause of the accident is uncertain.

Once the evidence is finalised and approved by you, it will be disclosed to the Defendants for their consideration. In claims where liability is admitted, we will then proceed to value your claim by reference to the medical evidence prepared to value the injuries you have suffered, known as ‘General Damages’. We also value your claim for your out-of-pocket expenses, known as ‘Special Damages’ using the evidence that you provide.

Securing Compensation for your Road Traffic Accident

There are two ways of securing compensation, either through an out of Court settlement or, before a Judge at a Court hearing. The majority of claims are settled out of Court. This is advantageous to both parties involved as it is less costly as proceeding to Court and is also less stressful as there is no pressure of appearing before a Judge and giving evidence.

More importantly, it also allows us, as your legal representatives to negotiate the best settlement for you, consulting you throughout the process, rather than placing all your faith in an independent Judge at Court, where it is extremely difficult in predicting the outcome.

On occasions, commencing Court proceedings will be necessary, for example claims where:

• Defendant denies liability.
• The Defendant is unresponsive.
• The claim is complex in nature such as accidents of a serious nature, such as head or spinal injuries, accidents involving children or fatal accident.

If it is necessary for a claim to proceed to Court we will prepare the necessary paperwork to issue Court Proceedings on your behalf and talk you through each stage of the Court timetable.

Why use JCP Solicitors for pursuing your RTA Claim

Whatever the circumstances of your claim are, we here at JCP Solicitors will ensure that you as our client, have the practical and emotional support you need during the process of pursuing your claim.

The Personal Injury team has many years of experience within this field and have accreditation from Law Society Personal Injury accreditation as well as tier 2 Personal Injury ranking in Law Society Personal Injury accreditation and Band 1 Personal Injury ranking in Chambers & Partners.

We also have close ties with charitable organisations such as our membership with:

• Headway who specialise in helping and supporting people who have suffered with head and brain injuries
• Spinal Injuries Association who specialise in helping and supporting people who are affected by spinal cord injuries.

We have helped thousands of clients in securing the compensation they deserve arising out of Road Traffic Accidents, ranging from the lower level whiplash claims to high level claims involving head and spinal injuries.

We are based throughout South Wales with offices in the following locations:

• Cardiff
• Swansea
• Caerphilly
• Carmarthen
• Cowbridge
• Fishguard
• Haverfordwest
• St Davids

If you have been involved in a Road Traffic Accident and have sustained an injury, then please contact us to arrange your free consultation to discuss your potential claim with us today by phone on 03333 209244, by email at law@jcpsolicitors.co.uk or enquiry via our enquiry tab on our website or through our chat facilities.