Published in Truckstop News May 2017.

In this issue Steven Hinchliffe of the professional drivers’ “go to” Personal Injury specialists Hinchliffes Solicitors considers another “READER’S ACCIDENT CLAIM”

Continuing his review of compensation claims, Steven Hinchliffe looks at a situation experienced by a reader of Truckstop News who was seeking an award of personal injury compensation.  In this particular case we will look into the claim in detail and in this part examine the initial difficulties experienced, and then look at the outcome in the next issue.

All of the accident victims mentioned in these articles are clients of my firm, Hinchliffes Solicitors.  They have given permission to disclose details of their real life experiences resulting in Personal Injury Claims, and the action taken to make a compensation claim.

In this two part article I highlight the case of a driver who was unfortunate enough to have 2 accidents at work, which caused a serious injury to his coccyx.

As with previous articles, the common factor is the often significant effect on the injured person’s life (physically, emotionally and financially) and although using the existing legal process to make personal injury claims as a means of redress cannot truly compensate for the trauma and inconvenience suffered, it can help not only by providing financial relief by awards of compensation, but also requiring the guilty party to provide the required medical and rehabilitation treatment.

In cases where the other party accepts responsibility for the accident but it may take some time before the injured person fully recovers, it may be possible for part of their compensation to be paid on account to make life a little easier, pending the final valuation of the claim.

CASE STUDY – DRIVER HAS 2 ACCIDENTS THEN HIS SOLICITORS GO INTO LIQUIDATION – PART 1

In October 2012 we received a call from Mr P M Aldwinckle of Leicester.  He advised that he had been involved in 2 accidents while working for Walkers Snacks, when seats in different HGVs had collapsed while he was driving, causing injuries to the base of his spine.  He had instructed a local firm of Solicitors to represent him but he had been advised the day before contacting us that they had gone into liquidation, so could no longer assist him with the claims.  Mr Aldwinckle had seen our advert in Truckstop News and wanted us to take over the claims, as we specialise in representing injured drivers.

We took as much information as Mr Aldwinckle was able to provide and contacted his Solicitors who were thankfully co-operative and agreed to send their file of papers to us the same day.  Once the file was received it was reviewed by solicitor Phillip Roberts and it became clear that the Solicitors had not dealt with the claims properly.  Liability had been denied by Walkers in respect of both accidents and prior to going into liquidation the Solicitors had incorrectly advised Mr Aldwinckle that his claims were unlikely to succeed and they could not assist him further.  Mr Aldwinckle had therefore spoken to another firm of Solicitors who had identified various errors made by his Solicitors, but that firm was not prepared to take on the case because of the stage it was at (Court proceedings had already been issued in respect of the first accident) and the mess the Solicitors had got into.  As a result of Mr Aldwinckle complaining to his Solicitors they had agreed to continue with the claims before going into liquidation.

Mr Aldwinckle was no longer working for Walkers and was due to have surgery to remove his coccyx at the end of October 2012 and would not be able to work for several weeks following this.  The injury sustained was clearly a significant one and had already caused Mr Aldwinckle considerable financial losses, so we were keen to help him if at all possible.  However, as with all claims we had to give clear advice to Mr Aldwinckle and could only agree to act for him if we considered that the claims were more likely than not to succeed.  Mr Aldwinckle’s claims had the added complexity of the errors made by the previous Solicitors, which, if left uncorrected, would have resulted in the Court striking out the claim in respect of the first accident in its entirety.

Having reviewed the file we were confident that the claims could succeed and that we would be able to correct the procedural errors made by the previous Solicitors, so agreed to represent Mr Aldwinckle on a no win no fee basis.  Read the next issue of Truckstop News to find out what happened next.

All of my Truckstop News articles appear on my firm’s website at www.hinchliffes.co.uk in the “Latest News” blog link on the homepage.

You do not have to be a professional driver to seek our help – anyone hurt in an accident (eg members of your family or friends) can contact us for advice.

Steven Hinchliffe, solicitor and Principal of Hinchliffes Solicitors

© Copyright 2017 Hinchliffes Solicitors

PERSONAL INJURY CLAIM SOLICITORS:-

If you have suffered any form of accident or contracted an industrial disease contact personal injury claims specialists Hinchliffes Solicitors for immediate legal advice, to find out if you are entitled to make a claim for personal injury compensation.  All cases are conducted on a No Win No Fee and No Risk basis.

Call now on 01684 580900 to speak direct to one of our specialist claims lawyers or go to our Start Your Claim  page to submit details of your accident compensation claim online.

If you would like to know what your injury claim may be worth, please go to our Value Your Injury page.

Confused by the claims process?  Please look at our extensive FAQs.

The post HGV DRIVER SUFFERS INJURY DUE TO TRUCK CAB SEAT COLLAPSE appeared first on Hinchliffes Solicitors.