RTA Claims under £10k

If you have been involved in a road traffic accident and:-

  1. The date of the accident was 30/04/2010 or later; and
  2. The damages for your injuries are likely to be at least £1,000; and
  3. Your total damages (including things like travel expenses, medication costs, treatment, lost earnings and so on, but excluding interest, vehicle damage and hire costs) are no more than £10,000.

then with one or two exceptions, your claim is likely to fall within a streamlined process for handling road traffic accident injury claims. The process is divided into three stages:-

Stage 1 

Your solicitor completes a Claim Notification form which is submitted electronically to a central website or “portal”.  The other driver’s insurers then have 15 working days (or 30 if the other driver turns out to be uninsured so that the Motor Insurers Bureau have to deal with the claim) in which to admit liability.  If liability is admitted within that time limit, then the claim moves on to stage 2, but if the deadline expires with no admission, or liability is denied, then the claim falls out of the new process and will be progressed outside the new regime, if needs be by issuing Court proceedings.

Stage 2  

Assuming liability has been admitted then we would next need to obtain a medical report on your injuries.  However, it is important to obtain a medical report at the right time, when we can be reasonably confident of getting not only a clear diagnosis, but also a clear prognosis – how long may any remaining symptoms last and what further treatment do you need, if any.

Once we have your medical report, and you have confirmed that it is factually accurate, we have 15 days to complete a settlement pack which provides details not only of your injuries, but also all of your financial losses.  This must then be submitted to the other side with a figure which we propose by way of damages for your injuries.

The other side then have 15 days of their own, from receipt of the settlement pack to either accept our offer or make a counter-offer and if their counter-offer is unacceptable the process allows a further 20 working days for more negotiations.  If at the end of that time agreement has been reached then the claim is over, but if not, then it moves on to stage 3.

Stage 3 

Basically, the papers are sent to Court so that a Judge can decide how much your compensation should be.  However, you may not necessarily have to attend the hearing – the Judge may decide to reach a figure purely on the papers.

For further information please contact Neille Ryan on 01227 763939. To make a personal injury claim click here.

Quick contact

Furley Page Solicitors in Kent, London, Canterbury, Chatham & Whitstable
Get in touch on 0845 603 10 57