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compensation following an accident
illness or injury - nationwide
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I may work for a no win, no fee compensation company but I've never had to make a car accident claim, or any form of personal injury claim for that matter.
This, however, does not mean that I've not been involved in a car accident; it's just that the accidents I've been involved in seem to fall under one of two categories: either, "acts of God" or simple "mechanical failure".
One of the latter kinds of accident actually befell me this week. I'd been driving from London to Manchester with a colleague on Tuesday. All seemed to be going well, the sun was shining, the radio was playing my favourite songs and I was making good time for my 2pm meeting.
Unfortunately, this halcyon run of pure motoring pleasure was brought to an abrupt end when my little Ford, which is usually so temperate and quiet, at 70mph suddenly started rattling like a ten-tonne tractor and making a tinnitus-inducing grating noise before uncontrollably lurching sideways towards the central reservation.
Fortunately, I managed to get it under control and avoid a collision with another vehicle.
Once I'd brought it to a halt and turned on the hazard lights, I was able to look under the car and see that the exhaust and several other pieces of vital equipment I don't understand the function of had become detached from the chassis and had swung athwart their usual position - it did not look good.
So, I ran off to get some sandwiches from the nearest petrol station, while my colleague remained, looking under the bonnet. Unfortunately, this did not make for an unambiguous scene: a passing motorist saw me "legging it" and presumed that I'd hit a pedestrian and was now making a getaway.
In fairness to the police, they quickly established that this was not the case and let us remain to get on with the important business of allowing the AA to deliver us safely to Manchester.
What makes me cross about this whole car accident was that we were in a car I'd recently bought second-hand and in good faith from a private seller. This seller had told me there was nothing wrong with it, so fair enough, I guess, but I had then had it serviced, literally two days before the accident, and had believed that all pressing work had been done.
My feeling is that if I had suffered personal injury, the garage's failure to notice any problem with the chassis might have given a no win, no fee solicitor some grounds for making a successful claim, but, since this did not happen, the most I can do now is complain to the garage that they missed some vital repairs. That is, unless I want to spend the next 18 months fighting a long legal battle; I'm just pleased to be alive.
