If you were injured in a road traffic accident in the last three years and it was not your fault, you may be owed compensation.
Injuries sustained in a car accident or other accident on the road can have very serious consequences for your health, life, career and general wellbeing. Compensation can make a real difference, allowing you to get the best possible treatment and care, as well as assisting with practical issues, such as replacing lost income if you are unable to work.
Read our two minute guide to road traffic accidents.
Get expert help to claim road traffic accident compensation
David W Harris & Co are specialist personal injury lawyers in South Wales with decades of experience helping people to claim road traffic accident compensation. At this difficult time, we can provide expert personal support to make the claims process as easy as possible and help you to get the financial support to which you are entitled.
Our experience with road traffic accident claims
Our road traffic accident lawyers in South Wales can help with many types of claims, including:
- Car accident claims
- Motorbike accident claims
- Cycling accident claims
- Motorway accident claims
- Pedestrian injury claims
- HGV accident claims
- Road fatality claims
- Whiplash claims
- Passenger injury claims
- Taxi accident claims
- Bus accident claims
- Overseas driving accident claims
Whether you have suffered a relatively minor injury on the road or something more serious, such as a brain injury or spinal injury, with the potential for a substantial settlement, our expert team can help.
We regularly help clients claim compensation in the £1,000-£500,000 range and recently secured a £14million settlement for one of our clients. If you'd like some guidance on the amount of compensation you could claim for an injury, you can use our personal injury calculator.
We offer no win, no fee funding for road traffic accidents, so there is usually no upfront cost or financial risk in pursuing a claim with David W Harris & Co.
Get a free first consultation with our road traffic accident solicitors in South Wales
Unsure if you are entitled to compensation for a road traffic accident or want to know more about how the claims process works?
We offer a free first consultation to answer your questions and help you decide whether you wish to pursue a road traffic accident compensation claim.
Please use our simple online enquiry form to book a free initial chat with our team. There will be no obligation to take things further unless you wish to do so.
Why use David W Harris & Co. for your road traffic accident claim?
There are numerous reasons to work with our expert road traffic accident, including:
- No win, no fee funding for road traffic accident claims
- Millions of pounds in compensation recovered for our clients over the last 35 years
- Our expertise is independently recognised:
- Personal Injury Partner Robert Thomas is a member of the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL)
- We are on Headway’s approved list of specialist brain injury solicitors
- We cover the whole of South Wales with offices in Pontypridd, Talbot Green and Swansea – home visits can also be arranged where appropriate
- Most road traffic accident claims we handle are settled out of court, saving you time, legal costs and stress
- We have a strong track record of securing maximum road traffic accident compensation for our clients
Find out more about our personal injury claims expertise.
Our road traffic accident claims success stories
Settlement for cyclist’s traumatic brain injury & orthopaedic injuries
Our client, JC, suffered a serious traumatic brain injury, as well as multiple orthopaedic injuries when he was involved in a road traffic accident while cycling.
Our team represented JC and quickly secured funding from the Defendant to ensure our client’s immediate rehabilitation and accommodation needs were met upon his discharge from hospital.
We also made sure JC’s longer term needs were covered, persuading the Defendant’s insurer to purchase and adapt a bungalow for JC, and to fund a 24-hour care package, rehabilitation assistant, physiotherapist, speech and language therapist, occupational therapist and neuropsychologist.
Road traffic accident claims fees and funding
Fixed fee road traffic accident claims
The fees solicitors can charge for low value road traffic accident claims (where the damages involved are less than £10,000) are now capped at a maximum of £1,400. This cost will normally be recovered at least partially from the defendant, depending on whether they are found to be wholly or only partly responsible for the claimant’s injuries.
For higher value cases, our fees will be charged on a sliding scale which we will be happy to explain during your initial consultation.
Find out more about fixed fees for road traffic accident claims.
No win, no fee road traffic accident claims
Most road traffic accident claims we handle are funded on a no win, no fee basis. This is more properly known as a ‘Conditional Fee Agreement’.
Opting for a no win, no fee road traffic accident claim means you will not be charged anything to start a claim or at any point until and unless we win compensation for you. If our team is unable to secure compensation, you won’t owe us anything. Making a claim this way is thus free of financial risk.
Other options for covering the cost of a road traffic accident claim include legal expenses insurance, which is often included as an optional extra with car insurance and home insurance.
We will be happy to discuss the different options for funding a road traffic accident claim with you during your initial consultation with our team.
Find out more about no win, no fee personal injury claims funding.
Common questions about road traffic accident claims
How long after a road traffic accident can I claim?
You usually have three years to claim from the date of the accident, but this will depend on the circumstances.
The three-year limit is actually counted from the ‘date of knowledge’, which is the date when you knew you were injured and someone else was at fault. If you can show that you only later realise you were injured or someone else may have been to blame, you may therefore have longer to claim.
Different time limits also apply if the injured party was under 18 or does not have the mental capacity to claim (e.g. if they suffered a serious brain injury in the accident).
Head over to our personal injury claims page to find out more about time limits for personal injury claims.
How much can you claim for road traffic accident injuries?
Exactly how much compensation you may be able to claim will depend on the severity of your injuries and their impact on your life.
It may also depend on the level of blame the other party has for the accident (see ‘Can you claim compensation for a road traffic accident if you were partly to blame?’ below).
Road traffic accident compensation can cover:
- Financial losses due to your injuries – including lost wages, the cost of paying for treatment, specialist equipment etc.
- Expected future financial losses – e.g. reduction in your future earning potential, the need to pay for ongoing care etc.
- Loss of amenity – i.e. no longer being able to carry out activities you previously could, such as driving, playing sport etc.
- Pain and suffering – for your physical and emotional pain.
Our South Wales road traffic accident lawyers can advise on the potential damages available and provide an estimate of what may be achievable during your free initial consultation.
Tempted to exaggerate the level of your injuries to try to claim more? Check out our blog on why you shouldn’t ‘over-egg the pudding’.
Can you claim compensation for a road traffic accident if you were partly to blame?
The short answer is, yes. As long as someone else was at least partially to blame, you will likely still be able to claim some compensation.
What you can claim will be proportional to how much blame can be attached to the other party, so, if it can be shown that you were both equally responsible for the accident (i.e. a 50:50 split of the blame) you will be able to claim half (50%) of the damages that you would if the accident was entirely the other party’s fault.
To find out more, take a look at our blog on why you don’t have to be blameless to receive road traffic accident compensation.
Can you get compensation for whiplash?
You may have heard that the rules around whiplash claims are changing. This is correct – from April 2021, the way whiplash claims are handled and how much compensation you can potentially receive will change under the terms of the Civil Liability Act 2018.
This means the amount you can claim for soft tissue damage in a car accident (i.e. ‘whiplash’) will be capped, as well the fees law firms and claims companies can charge for handling whiplash claims.
The aim of these reforms is to reduce the number and cost of whiplash claims and their impact on car insurance premiums. However, if you have a legitimate claim for soft tissue damage from a car accident or other road traffic accident, it is still possible to claim and, in theory, the new reforms should make this faster and less costly.
Can you claim compensation for a hit and run?
Yes, you can make a hit and run claim through the government’s Untraced Drivers Scheme. This scheme is backed by the Motor Insurers’ Bureau (MIB) and the accident must have been reported to the police as soon as possible in order to be able to apply.
If you were injured in a hit and run, our road traffic accident lawyers will be happy to help you claim.
Can you get compensation for a road traffic accident if the driver was uninsured?
Yes, if the driver responsible for your accident was uninsured, you can make a claim through the Motor Insurers’ Bureau (MIB), ensuring you can still claim any compensation you are owed.
Our team will be happy to help with making an uninsured driver compensation claim.
What to do next about starting a road traffic accident claim
To book your free initial consultation with one of our specialist road traffic accident solicitors in Pontypridd, Talbot Green or Swansea, please get in touch.
Simply use our short online enquiry form to tell us you would like to speak to a member of our personal injury team about a potential road traffic accident claim and we will be in touch promptly.