What the law requires
Every driver owes the other people on the road a duty to drive with reasonable care. When a driver falls below that standard and someone is injured, the injured person is entitled to be compensated — in practice by that driver's insurer, not by the driver personally.
Fault is rarely a matter of opinion. It is decided on the physical evidence: where the vehicles ended up, which panels took the impact, what the road layout allowed and what any independent witness saw.
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 police report, where one exists, and the reference number for it.
- Dashcam footage from either vehicle, and from any vehicle behind.
- The pattern and height of the damage, which often contradicts a driver's account of the speed or angle.
- Independent witnesses — a passenger in your own car carries less weight than a stranger who stopped.
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 Tell the police if anyone was hurt or a driver failed to stop, and report it to your insurer even if the other driver was at fault.
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2
Get the details Registration, name, address and insurer of every vehicle involved, plus contact details for anyone who saw it.
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3
Photograph everything Final positions, damage to both vehicles, skid marks, road layout and any signage or signals.
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4
See a doctor A record made close to the accident is the strongest evidence that the injury came from it.
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.