I have blogged previously about the proposed changes in the law relating to Employers’ Liability and it has now come to pass in the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013. In broad terms, this is good news for employers and, especially, their insurers and bad news for employees. It was the law that breach of regulations under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 could give rise to civil liability. Goodbye to Strict Liability In some cases, this meant that there could be strict liability of employers – in other words, liability without needing to show any fault or lack of care on the part of the employer. The case that came to be the classic modern example of this involved a postman who was injured when the front forks of the bicycle he was riding – and which his employers provided to him - collapsed without warning. It was established that the cause of the equipment failure was a hidden defect. The employers had not been negligent. There was probably nothing they could Continue Reading
How soon should you contact a solicitor after an accident?
You should get in touch with a solicitor as soon as possible. If you have been seriously injured, you may not be fit enough to contact a lawyer yourself for months after the accident. In those circumstances, it can be acceptable for a friend or relative to make the first contact. Most solicitors will do home or hospital visits, if that will help get things under way. Or they can get the basic details from the friend or relative, which will allow a start to be made. Ultimately, it will have to be you, the injured person, who gives the instructions to your solicitor but that is not necessarily essential in the first place. It's never too early to call your solicitor ... Years ago, the Law Society of Scotland ran a marketing campaign with the strapline: “It’s never too soon to call your solicitor … but it could be too late.” This may have been dropped because of the appearance of popular alternatives such as “It’s never too soon to call your solicitor … a b*@!*?@!”. Continue Reading
Bus Passenger Accidents While Getting Onto A Bus And How To Avoid Them
I commute most days to work by bus and am lucky that the most serious ‘accidents’ I have had to date have both affected my clothes only. Knee Slicers and Sticky Chocolate Seating Leg-room is not always great, depending on where you sit on the bus. I once managed to make a neat straight cut through the knee of one trouser leg on the horizontal metal strip on the back of the seat in front of me. More embarrassing was sitting down on a seat which someone had smeared with chocolate sauce. I only realised when I had difficulty standing up to get off at my stop. I’ve learned from that experience to wear jeans on the bus and change into a suit once I get to the office. Bus Timetabling Problems Buses and coaches usually operate according to timetables. Bus drivers have to do their best to keep things running on time. This is a difficult job when there are so many variables. These include things like: how much traffic there is on the road; how many passengers want picked Continue Reading
What is Moray Claims blog about?
Hello. My name is Peter Brash. What’s my line? I work in Elgin, Moray. That’s approximately half way between Aberdeen and Inverness in the beautiful North East of Scotland beside the shimmering Moray Firth. I’m head of the Personal Injury Department at Grigor & Young, Solicitors. Moray Claims is a trading name of Grigor & Young. We also have an office in Forres. Together with my solicitor colleague, Marie Morrison, we have over 40 years’ experience in dealing with personal injury claims for injured people in a wide range of circumstances. I am accredited by the Law Society of Scotland as a Specialist in Personal Injury Law. My colleague, Marie Morrison, and I are both members of the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL) and Accredited by APIL as Senior Litigators. The Elgin branch of Grigor & Young has corporate accreditation from APIL. So what is Moray Claims blog about? In posting to this blog, I’m airing informal opinions about legal matters – generally Continue Reading