By Mark Ainsdale. Welcome to our Hounslow personal injury solicitors guide. This guide to finding the right solicitor or lawyer for your claim has been produced for people searching for Hounslow personal injury solicitors. The guide contains everything you need to know to make a personal injury claim for an accident or injury that happened in this area or to people living in the borough. Whilst our head offices are not located in Hounslow, we will take you through how and why we can still provide you with an excellent personal injury claim service.
Information this guide includes:
- What a personal injury claim is.
- What are some of the common types of accidents our team sees
- Statistics for the number of people hurt in accidents at work or on the road in Hounslow
- How we can help you to make a No Win No Fee claim
Beneath the guide, you can also find information on services that victims of accidents and injuries in the Hounslow area may need to access, the different ways you can contact our team and further helpful guides on our site. We can advise you on how to claim online when working with Hounslow personal injury solicitors.
Please read more about making a claim anywhere in Great Britain with our No Win No Fee personal injury solicitors.
What is a personal injury claim?
This guide is designed for anyone who has been injured in an accident that was not their fault, equipping them with the information necessary to make a personal injury claim. Each year as many as three million people are hurt in accidents such as car accidents, slips and falls in the street, or an accident in the home (figures from the Law Society). In many of these accidents, another person, people or organisation is responsible for the accident happening. In such cases, the victim may have the right to seek compensation from that person.
Whilst personal injury law can seem (and could be) complicated, if you have a good personal injury law firm behind you, the personal injury claims process can be easy (from your perspective).
How we can provide you with the right personal injury claims advice
Contrary to what many people may believe, the personal injury claims process does not have to be difficult at all. Making a personal injury claim with the right solicitor, lawyer, or legal firm should be easy from your perspective. As with many other personal injury solicitors, we can offer you an initial consultation for free, in which we can assess whether you meet the criteria for making a claim (set out below) and whether we think we could help you. Our team could then help you deal with parties such as insurance companies, businesses, employers, or local government, anyone the claim is being made against. Our personal injury solicitors for Hounslow promise that we will fully consider your circumstances.
Eligibility criteria for making your personal injury claim
To make a claim, such as for clinical negligence, there are a few simple criteria claimants have to check off.
- The first is that the claim will need to be made within the relevant time limit. In most instances, this is three years from when you were hurt, discovered an injury, or connected to an event. These steps may happen at the same time or at different times. Talk to your solicitor to find out more about meeting these criteria.
- It needs to be shown that those you are claiming against, such as a doctor, had a duty of care to you. Looking at a doctor, if you were under their care, they had a duty to provide the right treatment.
- Your solicitor will then need to show that they did not meet this requirement to ensure your safety. In the example of a doctor, they could have prescribed the wrong medication or an incorrect course of treatment, resulting in your becoming worse.
- Lastly, it needs to be established that there is a direct relationship between what the defendant did or did not do (not giving your the right treatment) and the harm you suffered.
During your initial, free consultation, our team will be able to assess if your case meets these criteria and if you can make a claim.
Five things to look for when finding a personal injury solicitor
You should look at and look out for many things when looking at different solicitors, either in your local area or in other parts of the country. Below we have outlined some of the most important things to think about and look for in a personal injury lawyer.
1. What experience do they have?
Look at the individual solicitor and the personal injury law firm as a whole. Have they handled cases similar to yours in the past? Were they successful in doing so? The more experience a solicitor has, the better placed they may be to win your case.
2. Have they won cases like yours in the last 12 months?
Experience and recent successful experience can go a long way to showing whether someone is the right solicitor for your claim. If they have not had a good track record in claims such as yours, it may be best to find different Hounslow personal injury solicitors.
3. Do they seem professional?
You need to place a lot of trust and personal information in the hands of your solicitor. They are responsible in part for the success (or not) of your case. At the same time as being professional, are they empathetic? Suffering an injury can cause a lot of distress, and having a friendly, empathetic team behind you can help a lot.
4. Do they offer a No Win No Fee service?
Look at how their fees work. Are they able to handle your claim on a No Win No Fee basis? Can they remove any financial risk of you making a claim? Ensure that they can do so and whether they can offer you protection against any potential costs even if you don’t win your claim. Please make sure you also check how their fees work in the event of a win.
5. What approach do they take overall?
How do they treat you and other claimants as an individual solicitor and as a personal injury law firm? Will you be able to build a good relationship with the solicitor? You need to think about this due to the role they play in your claims process.
Below, we take a more in-depth look at ways you can go about finding the right solicitor for your case.
Read reviews of solicitors you could hire
When you decide which solicitor, lawyer, or legal firm to use for their claim, different people may have different approaches. Whilst some might pick the name of a solicitor out of a hat, others may prefer to be more informed. We always recommend that you do your research and know as much as possible about a solicitor or lawyer before making a claim. You can read reviews of their services written by those they have already helped to get a picture of what they could do for you. We also recommend talking directly with the firm you are thinking of using. And remember, reviews are not always accurate as people can sometimes create unrealistic expectations for themselves before contacting personal injury solicitors for Hounslow.
Reviews from recent and previous clients can be found on our reviews page here.
Should I choose between local solicitors?
Whilst you may think that you need to use a Hounslow personal injury solicitor for a claim in this area, in reality, you do not need to do so. While some people can be more comfortable working with a solicitor they can visit in person, there is no requirement. Most updates and communication can be carried out by phone or email, enabling you to be updated at your convenience. The only part of a personal injury claim that may need to be conducted in your local area is to assess your injuries. This means you will not need to waste additional time getting to an appointment further away from your home. We work with a panel of medical experts located across the country. In this area, our local medical experts are as follows;
Sanjay Lakhani
Physio Active Clinic
Unit 12 Bellview Court,
183 Hanworth Road
Hounslow
TW3 3TQ
Laura Sanchez
Pallares Salisbury Road
Hounslow
TW4 6JQ
Hassan Mehdi (Medco)
Master Robert Hotel
366 Great West Road
Hounslow
TW5 0BD
Shams Tabraiz (MedCo GP)
Grand Park Hotel
449 Great West Road
Hounslow
TW5 0BU
These medical expert details are current as of the time of publication.
Common types of accident and injury claims made in the UK
As a personal injury law firm, we have a wealth of experience handling various compensation claims and successfully winning these claims. This means we can always find which of the personal injury solicitors in Hounslow that we work with is most suitable to help you make your claim.
Below, we look at some of the most common ways people are hurt and why they choose to make an accident claim. If you require further information on types of injury claims, below are details of how to claim in various scenarios. And this table also offers compensation estimates for a variety of injuries courtesy of the Judicial College.
Injury | Severity | Notes | Compensation |
---|---|---|---|
Brain Damage | Very severe | The person might be able to follow some basic commands. However, they will need full-time care and show little meaningful response to their environment. | £282,010 to £403,990 |
Neck Injury | Severe | A neck injury that is associated with incomplete paraplegia or results in permanent spastic quadriparesis. | In the region of £148,330 |
Knee Injury | Severe (ii) | Constant pain and limited movement caused by a leg fracture that has extended into the knee joint. | £52,120 to £69,730 |
Arm Injury | Less severe | The person will have suffered with significant disabilities. However a substantial recovery has taken place or is expected to. | £19,200 to £39,170 |
Back Injury | Moderate (ii) | Frequently encountered back injuries, that disturb the ligaments and muscles and cause backache. | £12,510 to £27,760 |
Shoulder Injury | Serious | A dislocated shoulder with damage to the lower part of the brachial plexus that causes shoulder and neck pain. | £12,770 to £19,200 |
Elbow Injury | Moderate or minor | Elbow injuries such as lacerations, simple fractures or tennis elbow syndrome. The recovery rate will affect how much is awarded. | Up to £12,590 |
Leg Injury | Less serious (iii) | Simple tibia or fibula fractures, or soft-tissue injuries, with minor ongoing symptoms. | Up to £11,840 |
Whiplash Injuries With Psychological Injuries | One or more | Lasting for 18-24 months | £4,345 |
Whiplash Injuries | One or more | Lasting for 18-24 months | £4,215 |
Industrial disease claims
In general, claims for industrial disease or an accident at work will need to be made within three years of your symptoms becoming apparent or a connection between them and your workplace. This does not need to be three years from when your accident happened, rather from the discovery of the effects were known. Furthermore, this means that people can claim compensation years if not decades after incidents occur if they were not aware of the effects on their health till much later.
And this can be common in cases where you are claiming for things such as illnesses related to asbestos. You could also launch a claim against an employer who you left a long time ago. The only requirement is that you will need to show that your work directly caused your sickness.
Our guide to work-related illness compensation claims.
Clinical negligence claims
Medical malpractice or clinical negligence refers to situations where a doctor or other healthcare professional has caused you harm during treating you. Whilst there are many forms medical negligence may take, some are much more common than others. Those which we most frequently include;
- Failures in the diagnosis of medical conditions, or the misdiagnosis of said condition
- An error made when making a prescription or in the dispensing of said medication
- Errors made during the delivery of a child
- Surgical mistakes or errors
- Incorrect dosages or administration of anaesthetics
If you were injured due to how your medical care was or was not provided to you by a healthcare professional whose care you were under, contact the Hounslow personal injury solicitors that we use for medical negligence advice.
Our guide to medical negligence claims in London.
Slip and trip injury claims
Trips, falls and slips are some of the most common forms of accidents people are injured in. They can happen to people almost anywhere, and they can happen at almost any time, at work or not. Whilst they may often be a little embarrassing, they can sometimes result in your being hurt or even suffering a serious injury. Some people can be left with symptoms and injuries which last for years after the initial accident.
No matter where you are walking, you have the right to be safe when doing so. If you have been victim to a slip or fall and, as such, have been injured because others have not met their health and safety obligations to you, it can be difficult to accept. In many cases, you may have had to take time off of work, lose income, and possibly have medical costs to pay.
Our guide to making personal injury claims for slips and falls.
Serious injury claims
When looking at personal injury claims, there is no specific and legal definition of what constitutes a serious injury. However, they generally refer to injuries that have a catastrophic effect upon you. They may be of such an extent that the victim may need others, such as family or friends, to take time off work (possibly over the long term) to care for them. In addition to damages for their injury, victims could also claim compensation for their lost income and the income of those caring for them.
Our guide to serious injury claims.
Making a personal injury claim for an accident at work
Even if every type of precaution has been taken, accidents at work can and sometimes do happen. There are many different ways people can be hurt in the workplace. They may result from health and safety procedures not being put in place, you not having the right personal protective equipment or other causes.
Injuries caused by accidents in the workplace can range from the very minor to the most serious levels of harm and even fatal injuries.
Our guide to workplace accident claims.
Hounslow authority area accident at work statistics
This table summarises the total numbers and types of accidents and injuries recorded in the workplace in the years 2011-2014.
Accidents at work. Reported in the borough of Hounslow | December 1, 2011 | 2012/13 | 2013/14 |
---|---|---|---|
Other causes | 76 | 61 | 51 |
Electrical injuries | 6 | 0 | 3 |
Machinery caused/ related injuries | 12 | 10 | 15 |
Caused by explosions | 0 | 1 | 0 |
Caused by a fire | 1 | 1 | 0 |
Exposure to a harmful substance | 11 | 5 | 5 |
Falling from heights | 47 | 23 | 30 |
Caused by animals | 1 | 1 | 2 |
Lifting, carrying, and handling | 192 | 110 | 109 |
Assaults and attacks | 31 | 24 | 27 |
Falling on the same level | 193 | 119 | 102 |
Struck against something | 33 | 18 | 11 |
Hit by a vehicle | 16 | 14 | 19 |
Struck by object | 79 | 45 | 56 |
Trapped underneath something | 0 | 2 | 0 |
Looking at the different types of accidents listed above, we can see a general pattern where the number of injuries falls in each category.
Personal injury road traffic accident claims
If you have been unlucky enough to have sustained injuries in a road traffic accident that was not your fault, you may be eligible to make a claim using our road traffic accident claims solicitors. No matter whether you were involved in a road traffic accident with a car, bus, or lorry, driving, riding a bike or hurt as a passenger, our personal injury solicitors for Hounslow could help you, as long as someone else was responsible. And this could range from minor whiplash to a severe neck injury.
Our guide to road traffic accident claims.
Hounslow road traffic accident casualty statistics
The table below contains data on the number of people hurt or killed on the roads in the borough of Hounslow.
2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Pedestrians | 24 | 22 | 18 | 38 |
Cyclists | 7 | 11 | 13 | 12 |
Motorcyclists | 17 | 17 | 25 | 36 |
Car drivers/ passengers | 12 | 11 | 20 | 22 |
Other people injured | 2 | 6 | 2 | 2 |
Totals | 62 | 67 | 78 | 114 |
No Win No Fee accident claims
Whether they are called No Win No Fee or conditional fee agreements, these are a type of contract between a claimant and the solicitor or lawyer representing them in their claim. These agreements will usually state that if the claimant is not successfully awarded compensation, there will not be any costs or fees to pay for the solicitors time or services. They might be used a little differently from company to company. In different compensation claims, e.g. personal injury claims may be made a little differently from employment claims.
At Legal Expert, we will always make sure that we fully explain what making a No Win No Fee claim means, how the process works, and what circumstances you will need to make any payments. This means you can be sure that there are no hidden fees, costs, or unexpected charges.
How you can make a No Win No Fee claim
The easiest way to make a No Win No Fee claim is by contacting our specialist team. They will be able to organise the right personal injury solicitor for your claim circumstances. The biggest benefit of making your claim with a No Win No Fee contract in place is that you do so without taking any risk. If you don’t win, you have lost nothing in doing so.
Why make a No Win No Fee claim?
By working with a personal injury lawyer through this type of contract, they will have a greater motivation to secure you the best possible outcome in your case. After all, if you are not given any compensation, they will not get paid.
Where can I learn more about the personal injury claims process?
To make the right choice about what solicitors or lawyers you use and what steps to take, you have to trust your legal team’s advice. At Legal Expert, we understand that you have many choices in who you choose to represent you in your personal injury claim. Our winning team is on hand to help you make a personal injury claim or answer your questions, providing you with all of the information you might need. To learn more about the process of making a personal injury claim, please read this guide.
Speak to us today
If you are ready to begin your claim for a road traffic accident, medical malpractice, or any other accident in this area, please contact our team. You can contact the Hounslow personal injury solicitors that we work with by:
Email: info@legalexpert.co.uk
Tel: 0800 073 8804.
Our advisors are here to help you, Monday to Sunday, from 9am to 11pm.
Services victims of an accident may need after an accident in Hounslow
If you have been involved in any form of accident leading to an injury, whether or not that accident was caused by someone else, you may need some or all of the following services. As such, we have included the contact details of the local police, hospital, and the courts.
Hounslow Police Station
3-5 Montague Road,
Hounslow,
TW3 1LB
Tel: 101 / 999
Web: www.hounslow.gov.uk/info/20056/community_safety/1202/police_stations
Isleworth Crown Court
36 Ridgeway Road
Isleworth
TW7 5LP
Phone enquiries: 020 8380 4500
Email enquiries: isleworthcrowncourt@justice.gov.uk
Web: https://courttribunalfinder.service.gov.uk/courts/isleworth-crown-court
West Middlesex University Hospital
Twickenham Road,
Isleworth,
TW7 6AF
Tel: 020 8560 2121
Web: www.chelwest.nhs.uk
Web: www.hounslowccg.nhs.uk/your-services/hospitals.aspx
Additional Legal Expert Guides
How To Claim Compensation
This is our guide on claiming compensation if you have been involved in an accident that was not your fault in the UK.
How To Start A Claim Online
Start your claim online with our personal injury solicitors team by filling in this form.
Other Useful Guides
- Hereford Personal Injury Solicitors
- Hillingdon Personal Injury Solicitors
- Hoddesdon Personal Injury Solicitors
- Arm Injury Claims
- Huddersfield Personal Injury Solicitors
- Inverness Personal Injury Solicitors
- Ipswich Personal Injury Solicitors
- Isle of Wight Personal Injury Solicitors
- Islington Personal Injury Solicitors
- Jarrow Personal Injury Solicitors
- Can I Make A Claim For An Ankle Injury?
Hounslow Personal Injury Solicitors FAQs
When do I receive my first compensation offer?
This could happen anytime during negotiations once the defendant begins to accept liability.
What makes a good settlement offer?
This is an offer that satisfies both parties, with it generally reaching around 80% of your compensation target.
Will the first offer from the defendant be intentionally low?
Not necessarily, but the opening offer generally tests the waters to see what you’re willing to settle on.
Should I turn down the opening offer?
This is advisable simply because you’re highly likely to receive a higher offer later on.
What happens if I turn down an offer?
At that point, the offer no longer sits on the table, so you couldn’t choose to accept it later on.
What is a counter-offer?
This is where you come back to the defendant and suggest a figure that you would be happy to settle on.
How can I justify the counter-offer?
This is about presenting evidence to support your counter-offer being appropriate, such as the costs of your medical bills.
Will the defendant be willing to provide the counter-offer?
Again, it depends on whether you can justify it and whether the defendant can afford to deliver it.
Thank you for reading our Hounslow personal injury solicitors guide.