Van and lorry accident claims often involve numerous parties particularly those collisions that occur on motorways in foggy conditions. Both light goods vehicles (LGV) and heavy goods vehicles (HGV) accident claims often involve fatalities with the driver of the LGV or HGV frequently avoiding injury. There are in excess of 10,000 drivers and passengers of commercial vehicles injured every year in accidents and this figure does not take into account third party drivers of non commercial vehicles with whom they collide. Whilst this is considerably less then the number of non commercial vehicles involved in accidents every year, unfortunately the severity of injuries in collisions involving commercial vehicles is substantially worse mainly due to the massively increased weight and momentum when compared to a private car.
Van and lorry accident claims are often difficult for a lawyer to deal with. The drivers are frequently operating a fleet vehicle and the fleet operators prefer to fight all claims to reduce their claims record and subsequent insurance premiums in addition to the professional driver of the vehicle wanting to keep a clean driving record. Due to the often very high value of these vehicles and their cargo the insurers of course would prefer to be on the winning side particular if they do not have a ‘knock for knock’ agreement with the insurers of the other parties vehicles. A ‘knock for knock’ agreement is a pre-arranged deal whereby each insurer pays for the damage to their insured vehicle notwithstanding any subsequent decision or judgement on liability. It has the advantage of reducing/removing legal/overhead cost and allows for speedy resolution with no liability issues vis a vie the value of the vehicle/repairs and cargo.
Our solicitors have a long successful track record of van and lorry accident claims, dealing with single and multiple vehicle collisions causing personal injury and fatalities. Apart from having state of the art office systems and being able to call upon some of the best lawyers in the business we have connections with top flight medical specialists, barristers and Queens Council and are able to give you the best representation available. One particular aspect of HGV accident claims that proves extremely useful is in regards to specialist evidence :-
Most HGV’s are fitted with a tachograph which is now an electronic device that records time, distance and speed on a continuous rolling basis thereby providing a record immediately before, during and after an accident which effectively includes acceleration and deceleration records. Analysis of the database will often provide crucial evidence that is difficult to challenge although expert evidence may be brought in to question the interpretation of the record.
Where the occasion demands in order to obtain further evidence we may employ the services of an accident reconstruction expert who considers all of the evidence including location maps, police reports, photographs and witness statements and in conjunction with tachograph records attempts to reconstruct the sequence of events leading up to the accident. There are powerful software applications that now allow full or partial reconstruction to a very accurate degree.
Umbrella Claims is a specialist organisation that deals exclusively with personal injury claims on a No Win No Fee basis. Win or lose there is no charge*. This means that you never have to pay anything to us. All compensation received of whatever nature is paid to you in full without any deduction whatsoever - absolutely guaranteed. We will minimalise any inconvenience to you and we offer free advice without obligation from some of the best lawyers in the business. We ensure that our client’s interests are a priority and our lawyers deal with claims in a friendly, efficient and competent manner to ensure that you get the compensation that you deserve in the shortest time scale possible.