Accident on public transport

[sparklingsummer]

Hello,

Just wondering how best to advise my Nan; a few weeks ago she stepped on board a bus and the driver quickly pulled away before she’d had chance to move let alone sit down and in the process fell and injured herself. The bus company has it noted as an accident and the driver ended up taking her to hospital where she had a brain scan (thankfully all clear) and a cut to her arm. She’s unsure whether or not she may have a case for a claim and if so; where to begin with it. Is the first option likely to be seeking advice from an injury lawyer? I’m aware they will likely take a cut of any compensation she may get.

Thank you in advance,

As Parky says, vulnerable is the key here. There is no specific requirement for passengers to be seated & is why there are grab rails. Bear in mind that part of the passenger capacity of a bus is made of standing passengers. However care must be taken with vulnerable or visibly infirm passengers. Fletcher v. United Coaches [1998] PIQR P154 is the relevant bit of case law. If her claim is for 'relatively' minor then she doesn't necessarily need or want to claim via a solicitor/claims management company. The RTA small claims protocol would probably apply (she is arguably vulnerable but as a passenger she isn't a vulnerable road user). Since the whiplash reforms came in in 2021 the claimants solicitors cannot recover costs from the defendant. For for these type of claims they often ask the claimant to agree to pay a percentage of their compensation.
If she wants to make a claim directly, she can do so via the Ministry of Justice Official Injuries Claim portal (there is a phone number she can use if she isn't online). There is guidance on the website about what thr criteria for making a claim this way are. She will need the bus number plate & drivers name/number (bus company should provide enough information. If not, contact the police on 101 as the accident should have been reported to them). www.officialinjuryclaim.org.uk/

She has grounds for a claim but the sums involved would be very small, I tend to feel that getting a lawyer involved would be disproportionate. Could you support her to make a complaint to the bus company and ask for an offer of compensation?

Pain, Suffering, and Loss of Amenity (PSLA) is the term used to describe what a claimant making an injury claim can seek general damages for. When calculating this compensation, previous cases & the Judicial College Guidelines are used as a guide. The compensation for financial losses in a personal injury claim (loss of earnings) are referred to as special damages. A claimant would include these losses in their overall claim but they need to clearly set out each loss (or head of claim) separately.

This...

I agree that getting a solicitor involved might not be appropriate (see my 1st comment above). However using the MOJ portal is free (it doesn't just apply to whiplash. Any motor injury claim where the general damages are going to be less than £5k & the overall claim is worth less than £10k) can be made this way. Fees for the medical report are still paid by the defendant. Why would the bus company want to deal with it unofficially? They would then leave themselves vulnerable to a claim being made (admittedly in bad faith)after they have made their gesture of goodwill.

I don't understand why so many MN posters are so completely insistent that you can only claim for identifiable financial loss.

You could be in a coma for six months, lose six fingers and have irremediable ongoing PTSD and pain and there would still be posters saying "well if you kept the receipts you could claim for having to take a taxi, but since you're a SAHP you haven't lost any income".

toyour question .. is it worth her bringing a claim. Simply put .. no.
She is not injured beyond a cut, she has suffered no losses, she's not economically productive and does not have dependents. So there's no losses to claim. she may get a small amount for distress but honestly wouldn't be worth the hassle.
Best thing she can do is lodge a formal complaint with bus company. They may throw her a 50 quid voucher or something and hopefully will promise to improve training or brief drivers so it won't happen again.

Because these are the main things that make up a claim.

The same thing happened to my uncle. The bus braked suddenly causing him to fall and badly cut his head. He sought legal advice and got compensation.

It depends. Compensation depends on the level of psychological injury, which is independent from the level of physical injury. Sometimes an incident causing minimal physical injury can have a huge psychological effect.

If OP's nan has not suffered any psychological injury, she won't get any compensation under this heading. If there is some psychological injury, damages could be anywhere from £1.5k to in excess of £100k depending on the severity.

No, they are not.

Compensation for personal injury consists of general damages (the pain and suffering caused by your physical and/or psychological injuries) and special damages (any financial loss you have suffered). It depends on the facts of the individual case, but general damages can be much bigger than special damages. For example, a serious back injury can lead to general damages of up to £200k even if there is no financial loss.

The insistence of so many on this thread that OP's nan has no claim or, if she does, it isn't worth pursuing because she has suffered no financial loss is wrong. We don't know enough to say for sure. However, if she suffered a mild head injury (no or minimal brain damage but the injury may have lasting effects), she would be likely to get compensation in excess of £2.5k for that in addition to anything she could claim for psychological injury.

She can try- would probably have to a no win no fee. She basically got a superficial cut to the arm, and no other injuries (thankfully) it seems a bit petty to try to sue, sorry.

Well I'm not a lawyer nor am I a doctor. But given it was a cut and the hospital confirmed there was no brain damage I'm not sure where you think all this compensation would come from.

From the bus company's public liability insurance?
My uncle had a few thousand pounds for his injury.
I don't know why people are objecting to OP suing the bus company for damages.
Surely the expectation is that the bus company have a duty of care to their passengers and should safely transport them from A to B without causing them any injury?

I am not saying definitively that OP's nan is entitled to compensation. As I said, we don't have enough information to know. However, as per my last post, even if there is no brain damage she is entitled to compensation if the head injury may have a lasting effect. There is unlikely to be any compensation for the cut, and we don't know if she is entitled to any compensation for psychological damage. All we can say for sure is that she may be entitled to compensation. If she is entitled to compensation, it is likely to be a few thousand pounds which will, as PP says, be paid by the bus company's insurers.

The amount of non-lawyers posting bullshit on this thread is staggering.

Agreed. Factoidfan pretty much nails it. Most of the other posts can be ignored!

How rude of you @Parky04 .
I am speaking about my relative's experience of an identical situation.
He went to a no win/ no fee solicitor and got a pay out.

You don’t need to need the money for anything
it would be a personal injury claim