If you or a member of your family is suffering from a personal injury, illness or industrial disease caused by the negligence of someone else, you may be able to claim compensation.

In order to make a successful personal injury claim and be awarded compensation for your injuries, it is first necessary to prove that someone else was to blame.

Some accidents that are simply that, and could not have been prevented by anyone. In these cases, it is not usually possible to make a claim. You may be partially to blame yourself this is known as contributory negligence but you still may be able to make a claim and receive compensation in a way that takes into account your share of the blame , you may be found to be 25 percent to blame and so only be paid seventy five percent of the compensation award.

Who do you claim against?

Depending on the type of accident you may need to make a claim against a local council if you tripped on a faulty paving slap or kerb stone, your employer a driver of a car you are involved in a collision with.

You make the claim against whoever has by their actions to act or not caused you to be injured.

Sometimes you may be unsure who the liable person is and this is where specialist personal injury solicitors do their job and gets you the maximum amount of compensation you may not have got on your own.

To make a personal injury claim you need to prove you were injured and this is where medical evidence will be required. A letter or a statement from your doctor or specialist to show any treatment you may have needed. It can sometimes help to have photographs of any bruising or injury before and after treatment.

There are two kinds of payment for compensation one is for general damages i.e. pain and suffering and this is like an apology the other part of compensation is for your losses and expenses’ as you should not be out of pocket due to someone else’s negligence.

You may have had more serious injuries and no longer be able to work or you may need to drive a specially adapted car or have implements to help with general living installed in your home. All this and future expenses will be then taken into account.