Accident on motorway

Yrogerg_2

Hi all,

Looking for advice about an accident on the motorway earlier this year,

I was hit on the motorway at 70mph and my van overturned a couple of times, I suffered two fractured ribs and whiplash type injuries to my back and neck, the other driver is not admitting liability as she claims she had a blow out and as there was sufficient tread on her tyres and car had a valid mot, it was not her fault, even though I know she was speeding, my neck and back are still a bit sore but now i am struggling to walk because of severe hip and knee pain, I am self employed as an engineering surveyor on the railway and the pain is getting worse to the point where i am unable to work, as walking on ballast is tough at the best of times, i do have a solicitor but I am worried because as I am self employed if I stay off work, I don't get paid, i am getting depressed about the prospect of telling the company I contract to that I can't work and losing my contract, please can someone give me some advice?

If anyone has any questions please feel free to ask.

Many thanks in advance,

Greg

sharp910sh

Yrogerg wrote: »

Hi all,

Looking for advice about an accident on the motorway earlier this year,

I was hit on the motorway at 70mph and my van overturned a couple of times, I suffered two fractured ribs and whiplash type injuries to my back and neck, the other driver is not admitting liability as she claims she had a blow out and as there was sufficient tread on her tyres and car had a valid mot, it was not her fault, even though I know she was speeding, my neck and back are still a bit sore but now i am struggling to walk because of severe hip and knee pain, I am self employed as an engineering surveyor on the railway and the pain is getting worse to the point where i am unable to work, as walking on ballast is tough at the best of times, i do have a solicitor but I am worried because as I am self employed if I stay off work, I don't get paid, i am getting depressed about the prospect of telling the company I contract to that I can't work and losing my contract, please can someone give me some advice?

If anyone has any questions please feel free to ask.

Many thanks in advance,

Greg

Well it sounds like she is clearly at fault. Use your solicitor and press them to get a good payout from the third parties insurance.

Hintza

I would have thought the first thing you (or more probably your solicitor) needs to get is the police report on the incident and take it from there.

cutandshut

Why not claim off your own insurance and leave them to sort it out?
If the accident was caused by a burst tyre it may be difficult to prove that the driver was negligent.

OnanTheBarbarian

Hintza wrote: »

I would have thought the first thing you (or more probably your solicitor) needs to get is the police report on the incident and take it from there.

This pretty much sums it up.

If there is no evidence to show the third party tyre was in a moody state and the owner knew it was likely to fail, then you won't have a successful claim I'm afraid. You probably won't be able to prove the actual speed the other vehicle was doing and speed is not necessarily an act of negligence.

Barkway -v- South Wales Transport is the authority case on blow outs.

Yrogerg_2

cutandshut wrote: »

Why not claim off your own insurance and leave them to sort it out?
If the accident was caused by a burst tyre it may be difficult to prove that the driver was negligent.

Thank you for your reply cutandshut, I was in a company vehicle at the time, do you know how I go about it?

Thanks again, Greg

Hintza

I personally think catastrophic blow outs are few and far between and unlikely, will have been the first excuse she could come up with.

Yrogerg_2

Hintza wrote: »

I personally think catastrophic blow outs are few and far between and unlikely, will have been the first excuse she could come up with.

The police didn't even take a statement from me at the time, fair enough I was on a spinal board in a an ambulance when they arrived but nothing since, I have tried numerous times to contact them and they keep saying they will call me back but never do !!!

AdrianC

Yrogerg wrote: »

I was in a company vehicle at the time, do you know how I go about it?

You hassle the company vehicle administrator responsible for the vehicle - your customer, I presume? It's their job, after all.

The state of the other driver's tyres, and their speed, are both utterly irrelevant. They lost control - whether through their driving or a mechanical failure or whatever - and hit you. They are liable for your claim. Stop talking to THEM, personally, and either talk directly to their insurer (£4 from askmid.co.uk if they won't give you the details themselves, even though they have a legal obligation to) or just go through your own insurance.

eddddy

Hi Yrogerg

I guess your concern is your claim for personal injury, loss of income etc.

As the other driver suggests, if she was not negligent, then she (and her insurer) is not liable.

However, I think a court would accept that if a tyre blew out - on the balance of probabilities, somebody has been negligent. Either the driver, the vehicle owner, the tyre manufacturer or the tyre fitter.

Here's a link to a fairly similar case. Passengers injured as a result of a motorway tyre blowout claimed against both the driver and the tyre manufacturer. The court decided that the tyre manufacturer was negligent. http://www.yourlegalfriend.com/news/entryid/765

I'm sure the police will have done detailed vehicle examinations and investigations following a serious collision like this one. So evidence should be available.

You need to find a solicitor, get the police report, and work out which parties to claim against.

macman

As above-why are your client's insurers not dealing with this? That's what they pay the premiums for.