You have been involved in a road traffic accident with another vehicle, which was not your fault. You have suffered injury as a result. You need to make a claim for your injuries and other losses. Motor insurance is compulsory and so the aim will be to make the claim against the insurers of the third party driver. What are the details you need to get from the other party involved in the accident? Aside from the situation where you are not able to get the information at the scene because you or the other driver is so seriously injured, it can be helpful if you can manage to get: (most important of all) the registration number of the other vehicle the make, model and colour of the other vehicle the name and address of the driver of the other vehicle the name and address of the insurers of the other vehicle the policy number or claims reference number for the other party and their insurers. If the police attend the scene of the Continue Reading
How Your Solicitor Gets Paid No Win-No Fee in Scotland
(EDITOR'S NOTE: Some of the content of this article has been superceded. The Voluntary Pre-action Protocol referred to is now a Compulsory Protocol (from November 2016) but we have left this article in place because it provides a useful reference point back to the previous system for comparision purposes). If your solicitor takes on your personal injury claim no win – no fee then it means you will have nothing to pay if the claim does not succeed. But how does the solicitor get paid if the claim is successful and you receive compensation for your injuries and other losses? Your solicitor will have a written agreement with you about how fees are to be calculated if you win your case. This is called a Speculative Fee Agreement. Often, it will provide for charges at an hourly rate and it may even cover what is known as a “success fee”. This is an additional percentage that can be charged to the hourly rate in certain circumstances – usually if the claim was higher risk or more Continue Reading
Residential Landlords at Risk from Tenancy Deposit Claims
[EDITOR'S NOTE: Please note that the article which follows is still relevant in terms of the way the value of claims under the Tenancy Deposit regime are calculated. However, how such claims are to be made in Scotland has changed from 01 December 2017, with the removal of most private domestic tenancy issues (i.e. tenancies without a local authority or social landlord) from the jurisdiction of the Sheriff Court. Instead, these are now under the supervision of the First-tier Tribunal for Scotland (Housing and Property Chamber). This change means that it is not going to be financially viable in most cases to employ the services of a solicitor to make such claims. You can find further information on the mygov.scot website). If you own a house or flat in Scotland which you have let to tenants then you need to be aware of recent regulations which could put you at risk of financial penalties if you have not dealt properly with any deposit you have received from the tenants. The Continue Reading
Whiplash Injury: UK Insurers Told By MPs To Sort Out Their Practices
MPs consider the effect of whiplash claims on motor insurance premiums The UK Parliament’s Cross-Party Transport Select Committee published its report “Cost of Motor Insurance: Whiplash” on 31 July 2013. The Westminster Government’s perception is that there is an increasing number of whiplash personal injury claims following road traffic accidents – some of which are invented by the supposed victims and, even where genuinely-based, the extent of the injury is often exaggerated. In the Government’s eyes, this is pushing up the cost of motor insurance. The Government has described the UK as “the whiplash capital of the world”. The Select Committee considered these issues as part of its remit. What is Whiplash and Why is it Problematic? The definition for whiplash used by the Committee was: “The neck pain which occurs after the soft tissue in the spine has been stretched and strained when the body is thrown in a sudden, forceful jerk.” This is a typical result of the Continue Reading