Birmingham Airport Accident Claims Guide
Birmingham Airport has more than doubled its passenger numbers since 1997 and is now a very popular alternative to London airport because of its central England location.
Birmingham airport
Most people travel through the airport without any problems but if you’ve had an accident at Birmingham Airport then you may want to make a compensation claim if somebody else was to blame for the accident. This could mean you were injured as a passenger, an employee, a contractor or visitor with a valid reason to be at the airport.
Legal Expert are specialist personal injury solicitors who offer a no win no fee service for all claims that we take on. If you’d like to begin a claim today, then please call 0800 073 8804 and our team will assess your claim straight away.
If you’d like more information first, then continue reading this guide which is filled with useful information that should help you.
Select A Section
- A Guide To Birmingham Airport Accident Claims
- What Injuries And Accidents Can Happen At An Airport?
- UK Airport Injury Statistics
- What Common Accidents And Hazards Can Happen At Airports?
- Trips, Falls And Wet Floor Slips At An Airport
- Birmingham Airport Vehicle Crashes
- Luggage Trolley And Carousel Accidents
- Other Luggage And Suitcase Accidents
- Travelator, Lift And Escalator Injury Claims
- Birmingham Airport Shops And Eateries
- Birmingham Airport Workplace Accident Claims
- Baggage Handler Manual Handling Accidents
- Food Poisoning At An Eatery In Birmingham Airport
- How You Can Begin A Birmingham Airport Accident Claim
- I Had An Accident At An Airport, What Damages Can I Claim?
- How Much Can You Claim For An Accident At Birmingham Airport?
- No Win No Fee Birmingham Airport Accident Claims
- Why Make Your Claim With Our Experts?
- Contact Our Expert Team Today
- Additional Resources
A Guide To Birmingham Airport Accident Claims
Birmingham Airport has changed names a couple of times, it was formerly Birmingham International Airport and prior to that it was known as Elmdon Airport. Since 1997 it has doubled the number of passengers that fly from the airport and now manages flights for over 12 million people a year.
It is a two terminal airport and for most, their brief stay at the airport prior to a flight is comfortable and goes without a hitch but some people can be injured in an accident at Birmingham Airport which may mean they need to make a claim against the airport.
This guide provides information about the common types of accident that lead to claims, whether you’d be eligible to seek compensation, how to make a claim if you are employed by the airport or an employee at one of the retail units based there and how Legal Expert can help with our no win no fee service.
What Injuries And Accidents Can Happen At An Airport?
During this guide, we will provide a sample of the most common types of injuries that lead to compensation claims but how would you know if you’re eligible to make a claim in the first place?
The answer is that you need to be able to prove that the defendant (the person you’re claiming against) breached a duty of care they had to you which led to you having an accident and were subsequently injured because of the breach.
This sounds quite technical but, in most cases, the airport or businesses based there are duty bound to make sure you’re safe while on their premises – if they do, or don’t do, something that causes you to become injured then you could make a compensation claim against them.
Claims usually need to be submitted within 3 years of the accident but this can change depending on the type of accident so the best advice would be to contact a personal injury lawyer as soon as you return to the UK to ensure that you don’t miss out on compensation because of a technicality.
UK Airport Injury Statistics
The aviation industry has programmes in place to reduce airport accidents as they understand they have a negative impact on the industry and ruin holidays for passengers.
With regards accidents in UK airports for staff, the Health and Safety Executive reports that the most common type of accidents reported under RIDDOR regulations are:
- Manual lifting and handling (39%)
- Slip, trip or fall (24%)
- Struck by an object (13%)
- Struck against (6%)
- Fall from height (5%)
- Hit by a moving vehicle (5%)
A lot of these types of accidents could be possibly be prevented by training or safety enhancements. We’ll cover accident at work claims in more detail later in this guide.
What Common Accidents And Hazards Can Happen At Airports?
Over the next few sections we’ll cover the common types of airport accidents that could lead to a compensation claim including food poisoning, luggage carousel accidents, escalator accidents and slips, trips and falls.
Other accidents can and do happen so if yours is not listed, don’t worry, we’ll still be able to help you make a claim if somebody else caused it to happen.
Trips, Falls And Wet Floor Slips At An Airport
Trips, slips or falls can happen just about anywhere in an airport and, if they could’ve been avoided had a member of staff done something differently, could lead to a successful claim for compensation.
If a floor was damaged, or wet with no warning signs or a trip hazard was obscured from view because of poor or damaged lighting and this caused you to trip and fall then you could make a claim using our no win no fee service.
Birmingham Airport Vehicle Crashes
There are a number of different vehicles used within airport to move passengers, stock and luggage around. Any one of these vehicles can be involved in accidents and depending on which type and where the accident happened may result in a different type of claim being made.
If your accident at Birmingham Airport involved a vehicle then call our team so we can offer free legal advice about which type of claim you need to make.
Examples of vehicle accidents at an airport include:
- Car crashes in the airport carpark.
- A collision causing injury while using a transfer bus, tram or train.
- A collision in the terminal with an electric vehicle
- An accident on a shuttle bus or taxi from your airport hotel.
Luggage Trolley And Carousel Accidents
The luggage carousel and luggage trolleys can both lead to injuries when not loaded properly. If luggage has fallen on to you from either of these devices, then you could seek compensation against the airport. If you’re unsure if you could claim then please get in touch and we’ll assess your claim with you and offer advice on your next steps.
Other Luggage And Suitcase Accidents
Luggage left scattered around an airport, from massive suitcases to small hand luggage sized cases can quickly become trip hazards. If you’ve fallen because you tripped over a suitcase and you’ve suffered injuries, then we could possibly help you to make a claim.
Travelator, Lift And Escalator Injury Claims
Airports are so big that getting around them would be very difficult without using stairs, lifts, escalators or travelators, especially when carrying luggage. In most cases each of these is safe and rarely causes accidents to happen.
However, there are scenarios that can occur which could lead to successful claims for compensation, such as:
- Lifts that stop suddenly in a power cut causing you to fall.
- Lifts that don’t stop flush with ground level meaning you trip when leaving the lift.
- Travelators that have people travelling the wrong way which causes you to fall over.
- Travelators or escalators that stop suddenly when somebody presses the emergency stop button, when not required, which causes you to fall and become injured.
- Hand rails on stairs that are damaged or missing and cause you to lose your footing.
Birmingham Airport Shops And Eateries
For your reference, here are a list of some of the shops and restaurants within the two terminals at Birmingham Airport.
Restaurants:
- Giraffe
- Café Ritazza
- Costa Coffee
- Café Nero
- Burger King
- All Bar One
- Pret A MManger
- Marks and Spencer Food
- Wrapchic
- Wetherspoon
- Frankie and Benny’s
Retail Outlets:
- Kurt Geiger
- WH Smith
- Luggage Point
- The Watch Collection
- Pandora
- Aerospa
- Boots
- Dixons Travel
- JD Sports
- Eye Love
- Victoria’s Secret
- Word Duty Free
- Next
- Rolling Luggage
If you’re injured in any of these retail outlets, then you could seek compensation against them if they were responsible in some way as they all owe you a duty of care whilst using their facilities in normal circumstances.
Birmingham Airport Workplace Accident Claims
As an employee, either employed directly by the airport or as a retail employee, you are entitled to the same level of protection under the Health and Safety at Work Act as any other employee in the UK.
Essentially, employers are obliged to provide you with a safe working environment and:
- Provide you with adequate training in all processes that you’re expected to carry out.
- Ensure that you are supplied with correctly fitting and adequate safety clothing
- Regularly maintain any machinery or equipment and repair it when faults are reported.
If your employer has done something which caused you to become injured, then you could claim compensation against them. If you submit an honest claim, then they are not allowed to discipline you in any way because you’ve made a claim and they will have insurance in place to deal with such claims so you shouldn’t be put off from making a claim that you are entitled to do so.
Legal Expert have made workplace accident claims over many years and understand what is required from you to help make a successful claim so please get in touch for further advice.
Baggage Handler Manual Handling Accidents
Luggage handlers are not exempt from the safety protection mentioned previously meaning that if you’re injured while working as one, you could seek compensation if the accident was caused due to management negligence.
If you’ve been provided with full training on manual handling and lifting but didn’t follow advice or you were using lifting aids incorrectly then you wouldn’t be able to make a claim as you’d be the person who breached guidelines but if the opposite is true and you weren’t trained properly and became injured then we could help you to file an airport compensation request.
Other reasons that a luggage handler may be able to make a claim include being stuck on the same duty for a very long period, they weren’t provided with protective equipment (such as boots) and because machinery provided to help lift heavy items was faulty or poorly maintained.
Food Poisoning At An Eatery In Birmingham Airport
There are usually two ways in which a customer could become ill or injured when eating at a restaurant, bar or café within an airport: Food poisoning or allergic reactions.
An allergic reaction can become a fatal accident it the injured person suffers anaphylactic shock but even in milder cases the injuries can be serious enough to prevent them from flying. They usually occur when food contains an allergen, but it isn’t clearly labelled as doing so.
Food poisoning is usually less serious but can take many weeks to recover from and is caused when food hygiene rules are not adhered to. Each company will have policies in place, but staff can be too busy or simply forget to apply the rules which can lead to food poisoning when the food is prepared, stored, cooked or reheated incorrectly or in unhygienic places.
You should seek medical attention as soon as you suspect food poisoning as making a claim without medical evidence is very tricky.
How You Can Begin A Birmingham Airport Accident Claim
If you are injured in an accident at Birmingham Airport and believe that somebody else caused it, then there are steps you can take to help any future compensation claim:
- First and foremost, you should visit a doctor or hospital to have your injuries checked over. This will ensure you get any relevant treatment and, importantly, it will mean a medical record will be created that will become the basis of your compensation claim. It will be used as evidence to support the fact that you were injured, and it will detail the severity of the injury sustained.
- If you’re able to, or somebody else can do it for you, try to photograph the scene of the accident before anything is cleared away. Try to pinpoint what you deem to be the cause of the accident.
- Ask any witnesses for their contact details and, if they have time, ask them to briefly write down what they saw for you.
- Report the accident to the airport staff so that they record it in their accident report log. Ask for a copy of the log they create as it can be used as supporting evidence of your claim. If they are unable to provide a copy, then make a note of their name and the time at which you told them.
All of these steps can really increase the chances of making a successful claim against the airport or the retail outlet within it, so it is worth spending some time completing them if you’re able to do so.
I Had An Accident At An Airport, What Damages Can I Claim?
There are a number of different factors in any compensation claim that a solicitor can use to support your claim. It is the job of any personal injury lawyer to ensure they have fully understood the impact an injury has had on you because once a claim has been settled, you are unable to go back and ask for more compensation, even if you forgot to include something you would’ve been entitled to.
The elements that can be included in a claim are:
- General Damages – the amount for pain and suffering caused by the injury
- Medical Expenses
- Travel Expenses
- Care Costs
- Replacement or Repair of Personal Property
- Loss of Earnings and Future Loss of Earnings
The team at Legal Expert have been making accident claims for many years and know what is, and what isn’t, required to make a thorough and professional claim so they won’t end up forgetting anything or asking you for irrelevant information.
How Much Can You Claim For An Accident At Birmingham Airport?
When clients ask us how much compensation they’ll receive we always have to tell them that, until we know more details about their particular accident, we can’t really provide an estimate immediately as each case can be very different from any other.
What we can do is provide the table below which shows the type of compensation that can be awarded for different types of injury under the General Damages part of a claim:
| Type Of Injury | Seriousness | Range of Compensation | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Foot injury | Minor to very severe | Up to £96,139 | Injuries that can range from cuts, bruising and scrapes and then go through to muscle damage and nerve damage, to paralysis or full amputation of one or both feet. |
| Leg injury | Minor to severe | Up to £119,239 | Injuries that can range from cuts, bruising and scrapes and then go through to muscle damage and nerve damage, or full amputation below (or above) the knee |
| Hand injury | Minor to serious | Up to £54,299 | Injuries that range from soft tissue damage, sprains, nerve or muscle through to amputation of one or both hands. |
| Wrist injury | Minor to severe | Up to £47,720 | Injuries starting with lacerations, burns, cuts, etc, then up to nerve damage, fractures (either simple or compound), to paralysis of the entire wrist. |
| Arm injury | Moderate to severe | Up to £114,829 | A range of injuries starting at soft tissue injuries such as cuts and lacerations, then to fracture bones in the arm, damage to the muscles and ligaments and finally amputation above or below the elbow. |
| Back injury | Minor to severe | Up to £141,169 | A range of injuries that start with cuts, bruising and burns, then on to muscle damage (or nerve damage), to vertebrae fractures and onto partial or complete paralysis of the back. |
| Neck injury | Minor to severe | Up to £130,079 | A range of injuries that start with cuts, bruising and burns, then on to muscle damage (or nerve damage), to vertebrae fractures and onto partial or complete paralysis of the neck and surrounding area. |
As you can see, the compensation amounts are ranged from injuries that are minor to severe and it is our job to provide medical evidence that shows the exact severity of your injury so that you’re not losing out on the compensation you deserve.
When you decide to contact us to enquire about your claim we will be able to provide you with a more detailed estimate of the amount of compensation you may be entitled to once we full understand your injury and the impact it had on you.
No Win No Fee Birmingham Airport Accident Claims
There are 2 common ways to make a personal injury claim:
- Paying a solicitor an hourly rate but keeping 100% of any compensation
- Using a no win no fee agreement but paying the solicitor an agreed percentage of any compensation they win for you.
At Legal Expert we only offer the second option (no win no fee) as our clients have told us that the first option is too risky, and they could be left with a large legal bill even if we lose the case.
With our no win no fee service we’ll draw up an agreement which states what percentage we’ll retain if we win and then, if we are successful, we send the rest of the compensation direct to you.
If we lose the case, you don’t have to pay anything for our services at all. We believe this is the fairest option and means that the claim is risk and stress free.
Why Make Your Claim With Our Experts?
Legal Expert employ a team of specialist solicitors who only deal with personal injury claims. We’ve been doing it for years and always try to get the compensation our clients deserve.
We’re approachable, professional and friendly and, if you have any queries during your case, available to provide legal advice.
We have many previous clients who are happy to recommend us, you can read a sample of their reviews here.
Contact Our Expert Team Today
If you’ve read this guide about claiming compensation for an accident at Birmingham Airport and have decided that you’d like to use Legal Expert to make your claim, then you can contact us via any of these channels:
- Call us on 0800 073 8804 to speak directly with one of our advisers
- Send an email to office@legalexpert.co.uk and we’ll get back to you when it is convenient.
- Make use of our live chat facility where our team are available 7 days a week to answer any questions you may have.
- Fill in this online form which will take around 10 minutes to fill in.
Once you contact us, we’ll always begin by offering a free consultation where you can ask us any questions you may have, and we can assess your claim with you. If we agree that you’ve got a good chance of making a successful claim, then we’ll draft a no win no fee agreement to commence your case.
Additional Links
Hopefully this guide has provided you with enough information to guide your decision about claiming for compensation for your accident. For further reference here are some more relevant articles which may help you.
Civil Aviation Authority – A guide regarding consumer protection where using the airline industry.
HSE RIDDOR Regulations – The rules around reporting accidents at work to the Health and Safety Executive.
Airport Accident Claims – Our guide to claiming compensation at any airport, not just Birmingham Airport
Holiday Accident Claims – A useful article about making claims when you’ve had an accident while you’re on holiday abroad.
Flight Delay Compensation – A slightly different guide but if you’re looking for compensation due to a delayed flight then this article will be helpful.
Other Guides Available
- I Do Not Know Who Owns The Land/Property – Can I Still Claim For An Injury?
- Blackpool Pleasure Beach Personal Injury Claims Guide
- Allergic Reaction After Eating KFC – Can I Claim Compensation?
- Allergic Reaction After Eating At Pizza Express – Can I Claim Compensation?
- Allergic Reaction After Eating Domino’s Pizza – Can I Claim Compensation?
- Allergic Reaction After Eating JD Wetherspoon – Can I Claim Compensation?
- How To Make An Ear Damage Compensation Claim
- How Much Compensation Can You Claim For Injuries And Accidents In Butlins?
- Allergic Reaction After Eating At Hard Rock Cafe – Can I Claim Compensation?
