National Road Victim Month is held every August to remember people that have been killed or injured on our roads. As well as honouring people that have been lost and injured,  its also a great opportunity to raise awareness and to make our road safer. To start the month, we look at a recent claim we handled for a cyclist who was injured while just doing his job.

Our client was cycling around Monk Gate roundabout in York when he was hit by a taxi driver. He was left with a laceration and bruising to his head, a sprained elbow and shoulder as well as tissue damage to his thigh and hip.

The taxi driver admitted liability for the accident, saying he just hadn’t seen him.

 The client had to give up his job with Deliveroo after the accident. He no longer enjoyed riding his bike and was anxious approaching roundabouts.

 We recovered £18,000 compensation to help the client get his life back on track.

Recovering compensation

As liability had been admitted, we went straight into negotiations with the taxi drivers’ insurance company. Negotiations are necessary because the insurers will want to pay as little as possible, but we want to make sure that we recover the correct compensation to cover our client’s losses.   

Compensation will also cover private physiotherapy sessions to rehabilitate the client’s arm and shoulder injuries, which were still causing pain. The benefit of receiving physiotherapy means he will hopefully make a fast recovery.  

The client’s personal property was damaged in the accident, including his phone, watch and jacket. The compensation will allow him to replace them with the same or similar quality.    

Expenses

Expenses and losses are an integral part of a personal injury claim. Expenses and losses are split into two, special and general damages.

Special damages

These are damages that are quantifiable and include things such as loss of earnings, prescription charges, travel expenses and purchases made because of the accident.

It’s particularly important to save any receipts or invoices to use as evidence to support a personal injury claim. Even those which may seem minor, such as parking tickets for medical appointments.

General damages

These are damages that don’t have any specific monetary value. This is the compensation for pain, suffering and loss of quality of life because of an accident.

They’re calculated by using the Judicial College Guidelines, which suggests a range for the likely award for an injury based on those currently being determined by judges at court.

It’s usually appropriate in a personal injury claim to obtain medical records to understand the extent of any injury. This process is referred to as a ‘Subject Access Request’. Those records may include but are not limited to general practitioner records, hospital records, dental records and ambulance records relating to the injured person.

It’s also usual, once those records are obtained, to instruct an expert for their opinion on the injuries and likely duration of any pain and suffering to help assess the value of this element of the claim.  

Accidents like this highlight the importance of road safety and the need for all road users to be careful. It’s a reminder of how vulnerable cyclists are. By working together, we can make our roads safer for everyone.

If you’ve been injured on the road and want to have a no obligation chat about claiming compensation, call our friendly team on 0800 138 0458 or email help@switalskis.com