How much compensation should I expect?

rtipple

Hi all,
On November 30th last year I was knocked off my push bike by a car. Through my home insurance I've got legal assistance and am in the process of making a claim.
At this point in time the third party has accepted liability. I had my final physical examination on 23rd March so now we're getting to the crunch time of how much compensation. Trouble is, I have no idea what to expect or how much to go for.

My solicitor has said that I should expect £1700, but people I've spoken too who have made successful compensation claims have received much more for much less.
I'd really appreciate your views. Comments from people who work in the industry or from those that have made successful claims for similar injuries would be greatly appreciated.

So, here's a run down of my injuries and suffering to date.

What happened:
• Knocked of my push bike by a car on a round about. Main impact was to my left leg as I hit the bonnet, window screen then sent 6 / 7 foot into the air before landing on my left side again on the floor.

Fortunately nothing broken but injuries as follows:
• Two cuts to left leg, treated at A&E, healed in about 4 weeks, left with scars.
• Bruising to leg skin and thigh, lasted about 5 weeks
• Sever whiplash to neck, shoulder and lower back. Signed off work for two weeks as couldn't move. Couldn't sleep properly for two months. Pain almost all the time for the first 3 months. Had to lie on the floor for most of the time. Still get pulling in lower back now and can’t sit on my sofa for my girlfriend for longer than an hour or two.
• Personal life certainly affected, if you catch my drift ;-)
• Attended 6 physio sessions over 3 months paid for by third party insurance.

I was a very active person exercising on average 2 hours a day. I’ve only just started, after 4 months, getting back into gentle exercise. My final physical report a couple of weeks ago suggested that I’m 85% healed now and ‘should’ be 100% in another 3 months.

So in a nutshell, I’ve had a total of 7 months suffering, mainly with my back, which was quite sever for the first 2 / 3 months. It completely took over my life and put a downer on Christmas.

I truly don’t know what cost can be given to that suffering. Please don’t get me wrong though, I was very lucky and know there are people who have come off much worse. So I’m thankful that I’m even expected to make a full recovery.

Thanks in advance for any information you can give.

mattymoo

With the scars you would get more if you were female.
However, with blokes, most regard it as a bit of a macho thing and unless you are really self conscious and tell the doctor this, they may be largely ignored.

The bruising, while uncomfortable is also short lived.

This leaves the whiplash. The scale is a bit of an odd one. My figures might be a year or two out of date but bear with me.

For whiplash pain lasting a week you would expect £1k.
For whiplash pain lasting a year you might expect £2k.
For whiplash pain dragging on for 2 years you would expect £3.5k-4k.

So you see, the difference between a week and a year is not proportional.

Are you happy to settle now or do you want to hold off and make sure you do make a full recovery? You do not need to consider litigation until the 3rd anniversary so you could hold off for a few months to see how it goes.

The physio costs are "special" damages and you should be paid for these in full. That then leaves the "general damages" for pain and suffering. I would look for and expect £2k plus the special damages.

I made a similar claim last year following an RTA. I asked for £2k outright and said that if they were not prepared to offer it, I would hold off settlement for a year to see how things went. They then start to think the cost could creep up to £3-4k so might as well settle at £2k now.

rtipple

Thanks for that mattymoo.

So £1700 for an estimated 7 months suffering would be about right then according to your figures.

I was thinking about what to do in terms of waiting to see if I'm actually better in 7 months. Things are certainly moving faster than I was expecting them to. It's not like I'm a rush.

Certainly needs more thought for sure. Thanks again for your reply.

rtipple

Anyone else out there that's made any similar claims?
Would be great to know what you were offered too.
Thanks

Andy_L

While you were signed off if you were on reduced (ie statuatory) sick pay you're entitled to loss of earnings compensation, your employer is entitled to claim the cost of paying your sick pay (there own responsibility to claim though)
Replacement/repair of bike?

Jay1b

Its really not fair though. Thats 7 months of hell for a lousy £1700 quid? :O 7 months of hell for what is less than one month national average wage.

Also try for stress, loss of libido (how will they know?) etc..

fannyadams

'kinell
I have had two whiplash injuries (2 years apart) and the first time I got £3K and the second one I got £5K.
They both affected my ability to do my job and even now it is uncomfortable to sit for a long time in one place - think cinema, TV, computer.
I had an excellent solicitor based in Coventry, he got me what I thought was a fair settlement. PM me if you want his name and number. make sure you have a personal injury lawyer and not someone who can only do househols insurance claims.
I would think that as you were a vulnerable road user you could be looking at minimum £3K probably more.
you need:
Your bike, helmet, clothes damaged in the accident should all be replaced.
You have your loss of earnings to consider - do you do overtime for your job? you missed out on overtime coz of your illness. Do not think for one second that your employer paid you out of his/her own pocket for you to be at home ill.
You have loss of earnings for those who cared for you whilst you were at home - girlfriend/mum/dad/sister/brother/friends etc
Do you look after anyone - children, grandma/grampy/ invalid aunt?
You needed someone to clean your house, look after your animals, your garden etc
How did you get to the doctors/hospital/physio? how much ££ were the appointments?
If this looks like I'm screwing the third party I'm not - these are all legitamate claims that my solicitor put in for. AND I have children to look after so that made my claim a little higher.
Hope you are feeling better. IMHO I would wait to see how much better you are before going for full and final settlement. Whiplash is a very difficult injury and you do not know how it will affect you. you *might* be back to 100% or you might only get back to 90% if you go for F&F now when you are only 85% then you might regret it.
"mother nature is a curious beast. Only she knows how to heal your body, and how much she's gonna let you have back" - (C) my solicitor.
HTH

rick27

Just listening to your story
Commiserations on your injury from a fellow biker.
Sometimes some car drivers can be downright nasties,at other times it might have been a honest error of miscalculation.

Just looking through the list of your injuries means that

- there was no broken bones
-objectively it was obvious there was a severe injury to your leg, shin and thigh
What cant possibly be measured is the whiplash injury to your back.
Again this is what is ,harped upon by lawyers to get the maximum compensation.

"Couldn't sleep properly for two months. Pain almost all the time for the first 3 months"

Didnt you have access to painkillers then!


"Signed off work for two weeks as couldn't move"
-Sensible and appropriate,most of us may even have taken longer,as such an incident would be intensely traumatising.

Agreed that you have lost your quality of life for 4 months, but for one moment would you put yourself in the shoes of the motorist.

For a possible error of judgement he/she may have undergone as many sleepless nights as yourself.

And compensation for an incident like this-I do agree that you have been put through a lot of grief, but then going to a lawyer and taking it as a godsent oppurtunity to make money smacks of opputunism.


Have you not thought that by doing a months worth of hard work , you will have gained approximately the same amount, but that money would be something you truly deserve instead of something that you could claim to as being sponged off another persons hardship?

This is probably carried to its extreme in the US where people sue each other at the drop of a hat.

And those that make a living out of compensation claim like multiple whiplashes,I have greater respect for the person standing in the street selling eg Big Issues because they honestly earn what little they get than these scumbags who are in effect thieving on others.

fannyadams

I'm Sorry that I am a theiving scumbag. Please accept my most humble apologies.
Obviously you have never had your quality of life so impaired that you thought you could never work again.

You did not witness the accident, so are not inposession of all the facts. Sure the motorist maybe had a few sleepless nights, alternatively he/she could be out there now in their 1/2 tonne steel brick with another momentary lapse of concentration and this time he/she takes me out off my motorcycle.
let the flaming commence

rtipple

Hi all,
Firstly, thanks to all those who’ve responded with something constructive, thanks have been left.
However, as you can imagine, I’ve just got to reply to rick27 … so here goes ..

Where to start? Guess I’ll address points in the order they were made …

“Didn’t you have access to painkillers then!”, well yes I did, plenty thanks, as prescribed by my doctor. They did work, but they made me drowsy. So more often than not it was a choice between being doped up and asleep for most of the time or awake and suffering. For the first 2 / 3 weeks they reduced the pain, but didn’t completely get rid of it anyway.
If you take pain killers constantly over a period of time your body becomes use to them and their pain killing effects are reduced. So it was often a choice of take pain killers all the time to have a constant pain at say, level 3 or have 2 hours pain at level 5 so that you could take the painkillers when needed to have 2 hours of pain at level 0. Which would you choose?

As for the motorists point of view, sure, I’m not an idiot, I can see how these things happen as I drive a car too. Doesn’t mean I’m just going to accept it and do nothing. If someone accidentally smashed into your car what would you expect to happen? Would you just accept it as an accident or would you claim for the repairs? Of course you’d claim for the repairs. But here’s my point … you’d claim for the repair of an inanimate material object, but you wouldn’t for some bodily harm that was done to you that has impacted your life for 7 months and may well effect it for years to come?

Then there’s your comments about this being a god sent opportunity to make money and that I don’t deserve anything and that any claim would be sponging off another persons hardship? Are you for real? I didn’t deserve to be knocked off my bike, I didn’t deserve the pain and injury. It was only luck that I went over the car, rather than under where things would have been more serious. Had they been more serious would you still be talking about the motorists hardship? What about my hardship? They probably had one or two bad nights sleep … I had 2 / 3 months of sleepless nights as well as pain in the day … don’t talk to me about hardship.

Before you go assuming things about me and my motives, let me make one thing clear … I would much rather have not been knocked off at all so that I could have enjoyed my Christmas and the last 4 months. To me, what I’ve suffered to date is worth far more than any cost or inconvenience had I been in my car causing £2000 of damage and doing without my car for a week or two.

Anyway, I could go on even more, but won’t.
I welcome any reply you might want to make rick27 as I enjoy a good discussion, especially when I think the points you have made are wrong.

rick27

As for the motorists point of view, sure, I’m not an idiot, I can see how these things happen as I drive a car too.
Are we implying that the motorist did this on purpose,if thats the case then you should be prosecuting him for intent to harm.But the point remains you arent doing this,just claiming to get some compensation off, so that would be obvious that you think it unlikely that he did it on purpose
Doesn’t mean I’m just going to accept it and do nothing. If someone accidentally smashed into your car what would you expect to happen? Would you just accept it as an accident or would you claim for the repairs? Of course you’d claim for the repairs. But here’s my point … you’d claim for the repair of an inanimate material object, but you wouldn’t for some bodily harm that was done to you that has impacted your life for 7 months and may well effect it for years to come?


What is the bodily harm you have mentioned ,there is the injury to your skin,some cuts/scratches and agreed bruising to leg/thigh.
And there is the whiplash of course!

I would be hard pressed to believe that this would keep you suffering in absolute agony for the period you have stated i.e 7 months in all.


Then there’s your comments about this being a god sent opportunity to make money and that I don’t deserve anything and that any claim would be sponging off another persons hardship? Are you for real? I didn’t deserve to be knocked off my bike, I didn’t deserve the pain and injury.

Agreed you didnt deserve to be knocked off your bike and sustain the injuries you have,BUT it hasnt been established,whose fault was it?Did you for eg loose balance and veer into his way,or did you turn suddenly or did he come swerving towards you to edge you off the road?
We dont know whose fault it is but it is natural for you to direct all your available energy in the opposite direction,as with every incident on the road, the bigger vehicle/object automatically becomes looked at with suspicion

It was only luck that I went over the car, rather than under where things would have been more serious.
Precisely, which brings us to the original point, that this isnt possibly reasonable enough grounds to wage a legal war against the motorist.What could have happened remains in the realm of fiction,again you could have snapped your neck or broken your leg,BUT that didnt happen and that what has happened effectively is what we are discussing i.e the injuries mentioned above.
Another option is to accept an out of court settlement,shake hands and walk away on good terms instead of leaving bad blood on both sides.All you are doing now is benefitting the lawyers and leaving feelings of animosity on both sides.
There is an old ?Chinese saying-What goes around always comes around,so if you regard this as a genuine mistake,at some point in time these experiences tend to repeat itself only that you may be on the other side!And then you will hope and cringe that the other party would behave as I suggest that you do!!
Do realise that my post is not designed to heat your emotions up,I am an impartial observer and getting an unknown persons BP up is not my desire!