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Lorry accident claims are a type of legal action taken when you have suffered physical and psychological injuries as a result of someone else’s negligence. If you have been injured because of the fault of a third party in a heavy goods vehicle (HGV) accident, you will be eligible to make a claim.
You may have been involved in a road traffic accident in which a lorry driver has been using their mobile phone and rear ended your vehicle. Or, whilst driving a lorry, another driver on the motorway has been driving recklessly, causing you to lose control and collide with multiple other vehicles. If your circumstances sound similar to the examples above, you may have grounds to make a claim, which can be made on a No Win No Fee basis. This means you will not have to make any upfront or ongoing payments to your solicitor for their work and you will only pay service fees if your claim is successful.
Lorry accidents can be catastrophic, resulting in life altering injuries as well as psychological damage from such a traumatic event. If you have suffered such consequences because of the actions of someone else, you deserve as much compensation as possible to help with the recovery of your injuries. At Legal Expert, we want to help you secure that compensation.
Our solicitors are experts in road traffic accidents and offer services that have a proven track record for awarding their clients the maximum amount of compensation. Get in touch with an advisor on our team, who are on hand 24/7, to answer any of your initial questions before connecting you with a solicitor.
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Lorry accident claims are a type of personal injury claim that can be made to gain compensation for injuries sustained due to the fault of the driver of a lorry, another road user or an employer. Making a lorry accident claim can compensate you for the pain that you have suffered, both physically and mentally, as well as for any additional expenses that you have incurred that are associated with your injuries.
You can discuss lorry accident claims further by contacting a helpful advisor on our team today.
Yes, you can claim compensation after a lorry accident if you can prove that someone was responsible for your safety but acted negligently and this resulted in your injuries. The eligibility criteria for lorry accident claims is set out in full below:
Other road users and employers owe a duty of care to anyone else navigating the roads and their employees. This can be met by taking practical steps, such as following the rules of The Highway Code and running regular maintenance checks of the lorry, to ensure you are reasonably safe.
A failure to take these steps amounts to a breach of duty. This may be another driver dangerously overtaking the lorry that you are driving, or the driver of a lorry not checking their blind spots before reversing.
Updated medical records with details and scans of the injuries that you sustained in your lorry accident will prove that you suffered an injury and are therefore eligible to make a claim.
To have your eligibility to make a lorry accident claim assessed, contact one of our helpful advisors today.
Yes, you can claim compensation for accidents with a foreign lorry or HGV. These claims are usually handled through the Motor Insurers’ Bureau (MIB) if the non-British driver of the lorry does not have UK-based insurance. In this instance, the MIB will represent the defendant, but this will not affect your probability of a successful claim, providing you still gather evidence that proves the negligence of the driver. The process remains the same in that you will record the details of the accident, including the registration of the lorry and insurance companies, report the accident to the police and seek legal advice.
For more information on foreign HGV or lorry accident claims, contact an advisor on our team.
In the devastating event that a lorry accident has resulted in a fatality, you can bring a claim for the loss of your loved one to compensate for the pain that they suffered from their accident prior to their death and for their dependents. The estate will have 6 months from the date of their passing to bring this claim. If this 6-month period passes without the estate making a claim, certain relatives of the victim can bring a claim to compensate for the grief that they have suffered and the loss of their loved one’s contributions to the family.
You can find out more about fatal accident claims in our dedicated guide.
Our advisors can support you in your first steps of making a fatal lorry accident claim. Contact them today.
Lorry accidents can occur in many different scenarios due to their size, weight and the complex nature of manoeuvring them when driving. Some examples of lorry accidents and the negligence that caused them are given below.
Lorry drivers can be at fault by not following the safety regulations for these vehicles on the roads. This can involve failing to check blind spots for pedestrians when reversing or not getting adequate rest after driving for hours on end, causing them to fall asleep at the wheel and hit another vehicle.
Negligent actions, such as driving recklessly or using a mobile phone whilst driving can cause a lorry driver to lose control whilst trying to avoid a collision, meaning the driver of the other vehicle would be at fault.
Lorry accidents can also take place in an accident at work when returning the vehicle to the depot. Inadequate training of manual handling can lead to slipped discs when offloading goods, and a defect on tail lifts can cause sudden stops causing sprains from the worker losing their balance. Lorry drivers could also claim against their employer for a road traffic accident if their employer failed to take reasonable steps to ensure their safety. For example, if the vehicle was not maintained as it should have been and this lack of maintenance caused an accident.
To discuss the types of lorry accident claims that your circumstances may fall under, get in touch with one of our advisors today.
A lorry accident can lead to injuries of the most severe degree, such as paralysis and brain damage, due to the high impact collisions that can be caused by their size. Other injuries that may be sustained in a lorry accident are listed below:
To find out what other injuries can be compensated for in lorry accident claims, get in touch today.
The amount of lorry accident compensation that you can claim will depend on the severity of the injuries that you have sustained. Your general damages will compensate for the pain and suffering that you have endured. Legal professionals may refer to the Judicial College Guidelines (JCG) to help calculate them. The JCG is a document that provides suggestions of compensation amounts to award different injuries with varying degrees of severity.
Below is a table with examples of suggested compensation brackets from the JCG for different injuries that are commonly sustained in lorry accidents. We’ve also included 2 tariffs from the Whiplash Injury Regulations, which we explain shortly. All lorry accident claims are different, so it is important that you use these only as guidelines and not guarantees. Please also note that the top figure was not taken from the JCG.
| Injury | Severity | Suggested Compensation |
|---|---|---|
| Multiple Serious Injuries | Multiple serious injuries with substantial financial losses, such as care costs, rehabilitation and loss of earnings | Up to £1,000,000+ |
| Tetraplegia | Cases of the highest severity will involve a significant effect on the senses and pain that is present | £428,850 - £533,720 |
| Brain Damage | Very Severe - some ability to follow basic commands and return of sleep/waking patterns but little to no language function. | £372,570 - £533,720 |
| Moderately Severe - substantial dependence on other and constant professional care is needed | £289,420 - £372,570 | |
| Neck Injury | Severe (ii) - Serious Fractures or damage to discs in the cervical spine. | £86,860 - £172,970 |
| Back Injury | Moderate (i) - cases of compression/crush fracture where there is substantial risk of osteoarthritis | £36,680 - £51,230 |
| Chest Injury | Traumatic injury to heart and/or lung(s) causing permanent damage | £86,860 - £133,000 |
| Pelvis and Hip Injury | Severe (ii) - cases that may include a fracture dislocation of the pelvis. | £81,790 - £103,580 |
| Whiplash Tariff | Whiplash injuries with minor psychological damage with symptoms lasting 18-24 months | £4,975 |
| Whiplash Tariff | Symptoms of whiplash last 18-24 months | £4,830 |
Yes, lorry accident claims can compensate for financial losses. These will fall under the head of claim, special damages which aim to reimburse you for the additional expenses that you have suffered. Some examples of what might be included in your special damages are given below:
To find out what damages may be included in your lorry accident claim, call a helpful advisor on our team today.
Some lorry accident claims may be impacted by the Whiplash Reform Programme. Certain low-value claims must be made through the Reforms. So if:
Your claim would come under the Whiplash Reform Programme. It was brought in on the 31st of May 2021 and changed how certain low-value road traffic accident claims were made. If you suffered whiplash, regardless of which way you are claiming, your injury will be valued using the tariff figures found in the Whiplash Injury Regulations 2021 (2 examples can be found in our table above).
Furthermore, if your injury is not found in the tariff but is low-value (ie, bruised ribs), you would still claim through the Reforms. However, your injury would be valued traditionally.
Speak to an advisor for more information about the Whiplash Reform Programme and to discuss if your lorry accident claim will be impacted by it.
4.8 (466 reviews) To bring a lorry accident claim, you will need evidence to prove the fault of the responsible party. Some examples of evidence that could be useful in proving fault are given below:
To find out more about the process that lorry accident claims undergo in order to succeed, get in touch with one of our advisors today.
Our solicitors here at Legal Expert understand how traumatic lorry accident claims can be on both your physical and mental health, so they want to give you an experience with the claims process that is as stress-free as possible. Details on the services and arrangements that they offer to ensure this are given below.
Claiming with our expert lorry accident solicitors will give you the support of an expert personal injury solicitor with decades of first-hand experience. They know what makes a successful claim. As part of this, they provide a besoke service from start to finish. Some of the services are given below:
This is just a handful of the services that our solicitors will provide when claiming with them. Getting in touch with a friendly advisor on our team could get you connected with a solicitor today.
Lorry accident claims can be made on a No Win No Fee basis with our solicitors. You will be offered the chance to enter a Conditional Fee Agreement (CFA), which is a type of No Win No Fee arrangement. Our solicitors offer these agreements, as they benefit clients by:
A success fee will have a small percentage deducted from their compensation, known as a ‘success fee’. The success fee is capped by law, therefore you will receive the majority of your compensation.
To discuss entering a No Win No Fee arrangement with one of our solicitors, contact one of our advisors today.
Below you will find answers to frequently asked questions about lorry accident claims.
Liability in a lorry accident claim is decided when the claimant can prove that they were owed a duty of care which was breached and this resulted in injuries. The person or organisation that owed that duty of care will be considered liable for the accident.
Yes, multiple parties can be held responsible for a lorry accident. For example, if the accident was caused by the negligent actions of both the employer and the driver.
If defective or poorly maintained lorry equipment caused your accident, you could claim against the manufacturer of the lorry equipment for allowing it to be purchased with a defect.
Yes, you can claim if driver fatigue caused the lorry accident, provided that you can prove that the driver was negligent in not ensuring that they had adequate rest.
If you were hit by a lorry while using public transport, you can still make a claim as the driver of the lorry owes anyone else using the roads, including passengers, a duty of care.
Yes, you can claim for psychological injuries after a lorry accident. These incidents can be very traumatic, and you can claim for conditions such as anxiety or PTSD.
Yes, you will need medical evidence for your claim to prove that you sustained injuries from the accident caused by the third party. This can include updated medical records, scans or X-rays and prescription forms.
Yes, you can get interim payments whilst your claim is ongoing, which will be taken from your final compensation award.
Yes, there are some differences between HGV and standard lorry accident claims as the weight and mass of HGVs mean that they can lead to injuries of a higher severity and can include multiple vehicles.
The legal regulations set out in The Highway Code and Road Traffic Act 1988 apply to lorry drivers and operators as they are road users and therefore owe a duty of care to all other people on the roads.
Yes, you can claim if the accident was caused by overloaded cargo as this would be negligence caused by the employer or driver, therefore they would have breached their duty of care.
Our advisors are always happy to answer any further questions that you may have about lorry accident claims. Give them a call today.
More of our useful guides can be found below:
For more information that may help your claim, see below:
Thank you for reading our guide on lorry accident claims. We hope you found it useful.
