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Claiming compensation after a road traffic accident

22 November 2011

It's blame that counts when claiming compensation after a road traffic accident

If you are unlucky enough to be involved in a road traffic accident this winter and you need to pursue a compensation claim for personal injury, does it matter if the police decide not to prosecute the other driver involved?

Neille Ryan, a partner and expert in personal injury cases at leading south east law firm Furley Page, was asked that question recently by a client who was confused by a police decision not to prosecute the driver to blame for an accident in which she was injured.

How, she asked, was she supposed to pursue her compensation claim, now that the police had decided to drop a case for careless driving?

Neille said: “The answer is simple – she still has a perfectly good claim for compensation for her injuries. The reason is equally straightforward because her compensation claim relates to the question of who is to blame for the accident.

“The police prosecution, however, is based around whether or not the other driver’s driving was so bad that they have actually committed a road traffic offence. In the end the police decided that there was insufficient evidence to prove an offence. However, this is not to say that the other driver was not to blame, fault is a completely different issue.

“To put it another way there are hundreds if not thousands of car accidents every day in the UK and in most of them one party or the other will be at fault. However, in only a very few of those accidents will the at fault party have driven so badly that the police decide to prosecute.

“My advice, therefore, is that if you have been injured in a road traffic accident, don’t be put off claiming simply because the police decide not to prosecute the other driver. Concentrate on who was to blame for the accident and if it was the other party, then you may be entitled to compensation,” added Neille.

For further information contact Neille Ryan on 01227 763939.

Notes to editors

Neille Ryan

Top independent national legal guide Chambers UK rates Furley Page’s personal injury team and cites Neille as ‘a leader in the field’ and also praises him for providing an ‘exceptional and exemplary professional service’.

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