Personal Injury Claim

gwendes

I've broken my right hand at work as the result of a badly mopped floor.. soap and wet without any indication. Slipped and snapped my right-hand middle metacarpal. Just left hospital after surgery to pin the bones back... yuk!

Phoned one of the awful companies advertised on daytime TV and received the paperwork... my question is it possible or advisable to simply contact my company directly requesting compensation... surely this would be faster and avoid lining the solicitors pocket with £3-5k!

It's a big company and I've been told that everything is going through HO...

Any help greatly app.

JUNIOR

Have you got house insurance ? if so use there free legal advise , i did :j

I would'nt go on without legal rep !

geri1965_2

You can certainly pursue a claim unrepresented, but I wouldn't recommend it unless you have some idea of what you are doing.

If you have legal expenses under your household insurance you can use it to help you pursue this (it isn't "free" as such as you would have paid to take it out, but there will be nothing to pay in addition) or if you are in a union, their solicitors will normally take the case on for you.

Failing that a no win no fee solicitor, some are better than others and personal recommendation is best.

Horace

A no win no fee solicitor is definitely the way to go..personal injury lawyers tend to claim their costs from the other side. I know that when I was involved in a car accident (some eejit drove into the side of me totally ignoring give way lines) and I used a no win no fee lawyer that was found for me by the RAC legal helpline - I got an interim payment..all my travel costs, hospital tests paid for and got my compo at the end - the solicitor claimed £3500 but that didn't come out of my compensation that was claimed separately.

I wouldnt advise taking on an employer in a personal injury case unless I was legally qualified to do so, just as I wouldn't perform open heart surgery because I am not trained to do that.

When you had your accident - did you make a note of it in your work's accident book?

gwendes

Horace wrote: »

When you had your accident - did you make a note of it in your work's accident book?

Thanks everyone... it's been recorded and I believe reported to the HSE.

Think it'll be a few months before anything happens

geri1965_2

There's no rush - you have three years to put a claim in, although in terms of gathering evidence, it's better to do it sooner rather than later. In any event, your claim won't be capable of settlement until your injury has healed, or at least got to the stage where it has settled a bit and the long term outcome is known.

return

I worked for BR for 27 years as a guard,
One Sunday night whilst on a track repair site, I fell down a badly covered man hole in the track, resulting in 9 stiches in my right shin and a month of work.
This was the responsibility of my employer, as they have to provide me with a safe working environment, no matter where I work.
As a result, I sued the company through my union and after nearly 3 years, I was paid £2000.
Do not be scared to sue the company cos if you do not, they will think that safety of the workplace is something they can put on the back burner.