DD hit by car

[rak5a]

Our 12 yr old DD was hit by a car as she got off the bus and was crossing the road. The driver had crossed over the reservation to drive on the wrong side of the road to beat traffic to make a turn and hit DD head on. It was awful but she will recover eventually. She has a broken bone and serious concussion and lots of cuts and bruises. It will take months to heal and she is in a bad way.

The police have said they will pursue either dangerous or careless driving (driver at least stopped and stayed at the scene). We feel strange thinking about it, but presume we should make a claim against the driver’s insurance. However we don’t know where to start - all these “no win no fee” websites just feel dirty. We think our DD should be compensated for her suffering and would put any award into a savings account for her to have when she gets older. Has anyone been through this? We want to be sensible but aren’t looking to “milk the system” so don’t want a horrible ambulance chaser. Any advice gratefully received.

We had legal cover on our car insurance when someone went in the back of my car and wrote it off as my two daughters were in it (one of my daughters was driving the other to work). My daughter stopped at a red light and the guy behind drove into her at speed as he thought she was going to drive through them. Both of my daughters got some compensation. The police were also called to the accident and we had an incident number. It was really easy and didn’t involve any court as we settled with an offer from them. It was an easy fairly stress free process.

Meant to add not sure if your car insurance legal cover would cover you but you could look into it.

Also to add my legal firm took 20% of the claim- worth every penny.
A good firm will be upfront and transparent about costs so you are fully aware before you engage them..

@rak5a so very sorry to hear about your DD’s accident. You must be feeling pretty traumatised yourself so take care. <<hugs to you both>>

When I got hit by a car walking DS to school, I spoke to the insurance company myself directly but we also have a Personal Injuries Scheme here in Ireland who deal with the compensation aspect so I didn’t have to go to court. I was awarded just under €30k mainly for the trauma as I didn’t need extensive hospital care.

Also, I recommend not discussing the compensation claim with anyone other than your daughter and husband. Other people’s opinions are irrelevant and don’t let them try to minimise your daughter’s suffering. It’s going to be very hard for her over the next few months.

I’m sure she’ll make an excellent recovery from her physical injuries but please ensure she has some good (paid for) therapy for potential PTSD trauma and probably sooner rather than many months later, if possible. I found hypnosis (from an excellent highly trained practitioner) was very good for helping me move on and not re-living the accident constantly. It wasn’t cheap but absolutely worth every cent. I didn’t personally find ordinary counselling much help as it doesn’t really resolve anything other than rehashing hurt feelings and a total waste of my time.

I’m so so sorry OP. What a shock that must be. Talk to a proper law firm if no win no fee bothers you (it would bother me too).

You might have to pay something like £250+VAT for an initial call where a proper lawyer considers all the evidence and will advise you on the course of action. Additional costs will build from there, but when you win, you don’t have to share your win with them.

You need proper specialist legal advice. If you contact Association of Personal Injury Lawyers they will put you in touch with local solicitor who specialises.
It’s not ambulance Charing. Your daughter is entitled to compensation for injury and financial losses and rehab. Child settlements are approved by a court and Monies will be invested until she is 18. Wishing her a speedy recovery.

The issue with no win no fee is when you win and there is a fee at the end

My Mother and my Auntie both sustained injuries at a similar time - not car related, but neither were their fault. Mum ended up with serious back issues and still to this day has problems, my Auntie's was less severe.

My Mum went through her bank's insurance, personal injury - my Auntie when through a no win no fee... hers took less time and she recieved more money. Personally I think no win no fee are more brutal and will work harder to get their fee perhaps with better results.

Hi, hope your daughter is recovering.

Go and see a good, reputable solicitor. Don't get mesmerised by "no win no fee", in these circumstances normal your daughters fees will be covered in any costs awarded. Don't dither - go an see someone now. The rest "she said/he said" can be sorted out as things rumble on. Appoint someone on your daughters behalf and let them do their job.

I have personal experience of this (not children but a close family relation).

But bear in mind that, unlike the US, we have a system where the losing party pays costs. It won't be all the costs, but it will still be a very substantial portion of them.

I'm another person interested in knowing whether you mean the driver had actually mounted and crossed a central reservation, because if so that's terrible. Shows almost a determination to injure someone.

I hope your daughter is ok, something similar happened to my cousin when she was 12. It really effected her for life (broken pelvis, weeks in hospital) and you can see that counselling would have helped, but it wasn't really a thing back in the 80s. Some money would probably be very helpful in giving your DD a good boost in terms of rehab and confidence-building.

You want to use one of the national based personal injury solicitors such as Irwin Mitchell. I don't really know the full process but you decide no win no fee basis then you have to take out some sort of insurance policy just in case it ends up going to court when the costs go stratospheric. Also likely to take a long time.

I was hit by an inattentive driver when cycling, knocked out, three fractures, stitches in my face, bike destroyed. We pursued both a) criminal proceedings against the driver, via the police, for driving without due care, he got a fine of £1000 at magistrates court reduced by half for being retired (despite driving a fancy Land Rover in Essex so I don't think he was short of cash) and points off his licence and b) civil proceedings. I got £25,000 (it's his car insurance that paid it). The lawyer I went through was through my work union so that covered all the fees. Are you or your husband a member of a union who could advise you /recommend their legal firm, you probably wouldn't get fees waived as your daughter doesn't work but at least you'd have a direct contact to a firm. I would say, definitely do it. The driver should be punished both criminally and civilly, they'll pay for it with higher insurance premiums in future for example, so it's not a one-off punishment for them and hopefully with remind them to be more careful in future.
Hope your daughter makes a full recovery, I was concussed for a few days. I highly advise getting private physio for her recover, the NHS one was pretty rubbish and hands off and insufficient. Also start keeping all your receipts - taxis to hospital, physio fees, medication costs, etc etc, this will all make up your case against the driver when you sue.

Unless he drove over a solid white line of course you are allowed to overtake by crossing the central line, you're suppose to pass stopped busses as long as there are no CARS on coming to reduce congestion.

Also everyone knows you dont cross directly behind or infront of a bus exactly for this reason, basic safety 101.

Im sorry your daughter is hurt and hopes she recovers soon but its nowhere near as black and white as you are making it, the police are being gentle because there is a hurt child and upsert parents but overtaking a bus is NOT a crime and there would have to be far more to it for them to issue any kind of conviction or fine.

Yes, went through this when my DS was hit by a car.
I had a referral from a friend and he was amazing with the case.

Ask around people you know to find a good firm. Negotiate the fees they take from any settlement.

Don't worry about being an ambulance chaser. Your DD was injured and nobody really knows if there will be long term effects.

Yet the police are pursuing dangerous or careless driving. The op is simply asking for advice about making a claim. Not advice as to whether or not the driver is at fault from a bunch of keyboard detectives.

I used Irwin Mitchell for NWNF. They were great. No issues at all with them.

Claims are general (pain suffering and loss of amenity) and special (financial losses) damages. If child or family has incurred financial losses then yes they can be paid out but bulk of settlement is invested until 18. There’s a court procedure where a judge scrutinises the settlement and money is invested to protect children’s best interests.

@mam0918 but isn’t the issue here that the driver was not behind the bus? The cars behind the bus weren’t overtaking - there was a queue of stationary traffic. OP said the driver here was 10 cars behind when they tried this overtaking manoeuvre. Surely there’s a limit to where overtaking is appropriate

I was in a car accident at 15 and badly broke my leg. I made a claim on the drivers insurance, it was no win no fee but we found a local solicitor (not sure how as I was 15 so my parents did it) who dealt with it all. He didn't take a % of my award he claimed for his own fees once we were successful. It did take years but with minimal impact or stress on me. I didn't have to go to court or anything. My solicitor was happy to not rush so I could avoid the money having to go in to trust and I got awarded the money once I was 18. It was a decent amount of money and well worth doing. It took in to account the time in hospital, physio I needed and care immediately afterwards. Plus the emotional stress and ongoing pain I may suffer (which I still do when it gets cold over 25 years later!). I would definitely pursue it.

I got hit by a car when I was a teenager after getting off the bus. The driver was very upset. The police came round and told me off once I was out of hospital because they said I should have waited until the bus had moved away before crossing.

I don't know how it works exactly but my friend was in an accident and she got a couple of thousand. She claimed for loss of clothing that was cut off, or stained, along with personal injury as she was left with some permanent injuries. She didn't get a fortune, but it did cover loss of earnings etc as well.

I would start with CAB, and ask a local solicitor for advice, not just pick some random company off the internet.

Wtf are you on about? This is in Legal Matters topic!

Now is probably not great moment to settle on one course of action or a particular firm.
Get your DD and any other solid witnesses to write down an account of what happened and to date, sign, send it via email so that it can be seen as contemporaneous or nearly account. Check you have any contacts for police etc, etc so you can find out what they are doing or not.
Time limits to take legal action stretch into months if not years so you have time to do research etc slowly and when shock and anger have subsided.
If you do proceed then written accounts and accurate timeline ie when where exactly, things missed, appointments afterwards etc are v useful

How long ago did this happen op?