What the law requires
Whoever controls how, when and where the work is done generally owes a duty regardless of the label on the contract. Courts look at the reality of the arrangement — the routing, the branding, the schedule, the equipment — rather than at what the paperwork calls you.
Where the vehicle or the loading system is provided or specified by the company you deliver for, responsibility for its condition sits with them.
What decides a claim like this
Liability is established on records far more often than on recollection. In this kind of claim the documents that matter most are:
- The employment reality: who set the route, the schedule and the method.
- Vehicle maintenance and defect-reporting records.
- The loading system, tail lift or cage involved, and its inspection history.
- Whether the drop schedule allowed the job to be done at a safe pace, which telematics often shows.
What to do now
The evidence that decides these claims has a short life. If the accident was recent:
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1
Report it in the accident book Every workplace with ten or more staff must keep one. Ask for a copy of the entry you signed.
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2
Tell your GP An early medical record is what links the injury to the work, which is often the point in dispute.
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3
Note who saw it Colleagues move on. A name and a mobile number now is worth more than a perfect memory later.
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4
Keep what you were given Training records, the equipment involved, the rota and any risk assessment you were shown.
How long you have to claim
The general limitation period for a personal injury claim is three years from the date of the accident, or from the date you first knew the injury was significant and attributable to someone else. If you were under 18 at the time, the three years runs from your eighteenth birthday. Where the injured person lacks mental capacity, time may not run at all.\n\nThe practical deadline is shorter than the legal one. CCTV is overwritten, defects are repaired and records are archived, so a claim started early is almost always a stronger claim.
How we work
We assess the claim, obtain the records that decide it, instruct an independent medical expert and deal with the insurer throughout. Personal injury claims of this kind are run on a No Win, No Fee agreement: there is nothing to pay upfront, and nothing to pay us for our work if the claim does not succeed. A success fee is deducted from the compensation if it does, and we set that out in writing before you commit to anything.