Archive for the 'Fatal accidents' Category

Published in Truckstop News December 2011.

This month Steven Hinchliffe of the specialist Personal Injury Compensation firm Hinchliffes Solicitors considers HOW TO KEEP TRUCK DRIVERS SAFE ON THE ROADS.

Highways Agency statistics indicate that HGVs are involved in about a quarter of all road accidents, even though when looking at the overall makeup of the traffic on the UK’s roads, this vehicle type equates to a much lower proportion than 25%.

Employers have a duty towards their drivers to ensure, as far as reasonably practical, the health and safety of the employee and also that neither they nor anyone else affected by their presence on the road will come to harm.

To assist with this, employers must have in place a health and safety policy that can be accessed by their drivers.  Indeed the drivers should be consulted when the policy is formulated, and once in place they should be provided with appropriate training so that the risk of an accident occurring is minimised.  This is in addition to the usual steps that should be taken to ensure vehicles are roadworthy.

Published in CV Driver April 2011.

This is the fourth in a series of articles written by solicitor Steven Hinchliffe, who is the owner and Principal of the specialist Personal Injury firm HINCHLIFFES SOLICITORS.

In these articles he will consider various issues relating to the accidents commonly suffered by professional drivers and the sometimes devastating injuries they sustain.  The firm has many years of experience in handling accident claims on behalf of injured victims – not only recovering millions of pounds in compensation, but also securing medical and other rehabilitation treatment to aid their recovery and return to normal life. 

This article outlines how different companies view accident claims, and the tactics used by some to encourage injured victims to deal direct with them.

Published in Truckstop News April 2011.

In this month’s issue Steven Hinchliffe of the specialist Personal Injury Compensation firm Hinchliffes Solicitors will consider how “YOUR ACCESS TO JUSTICE IS IN JEOPARDY”  

I was recently involved in a financial transaction and received very poor service from a high street bank.  As a result I incurred several thousand pounds of expenditure I had not bargained for.  I made a formal complaint and claimed my losses, but the bank refused to deal with the matter.  I therefore involved the Financial Services Ombudsman and although I do not know what the outcome will be, there is now an independent party considering the merits of my complaint, and if it is upheld they will require the bank to compensate me.

How is this relevant to someone wanting to make a claim for personal injury compensation?  Let me explain.  If you are injured in an accident and the party responsible refuses to pay compensation, you can put your case before a Judge at a trial (ie an independent party).  If they find in your favour they can assess the amount you should receive for your injuries and financial losses, and require your opponent to pay this, together with your legal costs.

Published in Motorcycle Monthly April 2011. 

It’s happened.  You’ve had a road accident.  But what do you do now?  MCM has the answers…

In the second of a two-part feature, solicitor and biker Steven Hinchliffe outlines when and how to make claims for any personal injury and property damage following a road accident, and considers the basic elements that need to exist for the claim to be successful.

WHO WAS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE ACCIDENT?

For a compensation claim to be successful, you must show that the accident has occurred because of the negligence or fault of the other driver or road user.  If their “duty of care” to you is breached and as a result you are injured, then it is highly likely that you will have grounds to recover compensation.

Published in Motorcycle Monthly March 2011. 

It’s happened.  You’ve had a road accident.  But what do you do now?  MCM has the answers …

In the first of a two part feature, solicitor and biker Steven Hinchliffe outlines some of the issues that should be considered following the unfortunate event of a road accident, plus offers guidance on the initial steps to take.

WHAT TO DO IMMEDIATELY AFTER THE ACCIDENT

Before you think of anything else, switch off your bike and get away from any fuel spill.  Then take a note of relevant details: it’s useful to keep a pen and paper under your bike seat, together with a copy of your insurance certificate, for this type of situation.

If you are injured or in shock you may not be able to obtain all the information you need, or maybe overlook things in the immediate aftermath, but it is important to record as much of the following as possible:-

Malvern solicitor Steven Hinchliffe outlines some of the issues that should be considered following a road accident, and which can easily be overlooked in the immediate aftermath.  This note offers guidance on the initial steps to be taken.

Steven Hinchliffe is the Principal of Hinchliffes Solicitors which firm specialises in personal injury compensation claims and handles accident at work, road accident and many other types of cases throughout England and Wales.  Even so, many clients of the firm are local to Malvern and the surrounding towns of Ledbury, Upton upon Severn, Tewkesbury, Pershore, Evesham, Droitwich, Redditch, Tenbury, Bromyard and the cities of Hereford and Worcester.

WHAT SHOULD I RECORD AFTER AN ACCIDENT?

Before you think of anything else, switch off your ignition and get away from any fuel spill.  Then take a note of relevant details and it is useful to keep a pen and paper with you, together with a copy of your insurance certificate, for this type of situation.

Published in Truckstop News February 2011.

In this month’s issue Steven Hinchliffe of the specialist Personal Injury Compensation firm Hinchliffes Solicitors will consider “WHEN A SLIP OR TRIP AT WORK CAN LEAD TO A SUCCESSFUL COMPENSATION CLAIM”  

“If you have been injured in a Slip, Trip or Fall Accident within the last 3 years that was not your fault, you may be entitled to claim Personal Injury Compensation.”  How often have you come across this statement in the press or in adverts on the TV or radio?  In reality claims following this type of accident are often difficult to succeed with, particularly when the party at fault is a local council or highway authority.  However, if the injured person was at work when the accident occurred and the party at fault is either their employer or a business related to their job, then the potential for success is greatly enhanced by virtue of Health and Safety legislation.  These provide employees with significantly more protection than ordinary members of the public.

So long as the accident happened during the course of your work and was caused by the negligence of someone related to your job, it is always worth taking advice from a personal injury specialist on the merits of your potential claim.  It does not really matter where you were when you fell, for example while in a warehouse, an office, a car park, when on the back of a trailer or standing on a ladder or platform, but what caused you to fall is an important factor.

The number of people killed in work related accidents has fallen to the lowest on record.  An official report published in October 2010 by the Health and Safety Executive indicated that between April 2009 and March 2010 there were 152 fatalities, down from 179 the previous year.  This corresponds to a rate of 0.5 deaths per 100,000 employees.

There were 26,061 major injuries, such as amputations and significant burns, to workers compared with 27,894 in 2008/09.  There were 95,369 injuries severe enough to keep employees away from work for three or more days, down from 105,261 in the previous year.

An estimated 1.3 million people said they were suffering from an illness caused or made worse by the nature of their work, which was an increase from 1.2 million in 2008/09.

Published in Truckstop News August 2010.

In this month’s issue Steven Hinchliffe of the specialist Personal Injury Compensation firm Hinchliffes Solicitors will consider “HOW COMPENSATION FOR ACCIDENT RELATED INJURIES IS CALCULATED”

In this article I set out the basic procedures for working out how much money an injured person should receive to compensate them for the injuries they have suffered in an accident caused by the negligence of another person or company.  Awards of compensation made by the Courts in England and Wales are some of the lowest in Western Europe; therefore it is essential that every avenue is explored to ensure that the injured person is as fully compensated as the law permits.

Sometimes the injured person is found to be partly responsible for the accident, and in that case the amount of compensation they receive is reduced by a certain percentage to reflect their share of the blame.  For example, in a head on car accident both drivers may be held equally responsible and therefore once the full value of the injuries and the full extent of the injured person’s financial losses are established, only 50% of this would be due.  Also, if someone involved in a car accident was not wearing their seatbelt and this resulted in their injuries being more severe than would otherwise have been the case, they would lose between 15% and 25% of the full compensation, depending upon the individual circumstances.

According to the Health and Safety Executive the number of people killed at work fell to a record low between 1^st April 2009 and 31^st March 2010.  In this period 151 workers were killed which is a considerable improvement compared with the average number of deaths for the previous five years of 220 per year.

In part it is possible that the figures could be due to a decrease in commercial activity in some sectors because of the recession.  However, some improvement may well be down to the advancement of good practice in the workplace.