Passenger injury compensation

Anyone travelling as a passenger in a car, riding pillion on a motorcycle or travelling as a passenger on a mode of public transport such as a taxi, bus, coach, train, ferry or aeroplane who was injuried in an accident may be eligible to claim compensation. Parents or guardians can also claim on behalf of a child injured in the accident - click here to read more about claiming on behalf of a minor.

If you’re travelling in the car of a friend or colleague, then they, as well as other road users, have a duty of care towards you. Similarly, if you are using public transport, the driver and the company that you are travelling with also owe you a duty of care.

Nine times out of ten, passengers are the innocent party when an accident occurs. But they are often the ones that suffer serious injuries that cause them substantial pain, suffering, distress and inconvenience. This means that they should be entitled to make a compensation claim to recover damages and help them to continue with their lives.

Taking action against the driver or the company

If you have sustained passenger injuries then you should not be afraid of making a claim, even if the driver is a close friend or family member. When considering car accidents, as long as your driver has the most basic car insurance cover, third party insurance, he or she will be covered for liability for injuries to other people in their car (including passengers), liability for damage to other people's property and liability for injuries to the occupants of other vehicles.

This means that even if you make a claim against someone you know, you should not worry about any possible negative repercussions for them. They are already likely to be making a claim on their insurance and their insurance provider will be liable to pay any compensation that you receive.

The driver may lose their no claims bonus but he is likely to lose this anyway if he makes a claim through his own insurance company for the damage to the vehicle. Besides, when considered in perspective, the loss of no claims bonus is a small price to pay when you have suffered injuries while in their care.

If you suffer an injury as a passenger in a taxi accident you will either be covered by the driver's own insurance or the insurance of the company that they work for. Read more about taxi accidents.

Also, if you are injured while travelling on public transport such as a bus, train or aeroplane then the company which you are travelling with may be liable for negligence and have to pay you compensation accordingly.

Contributory negligence and split liability claims

While passengers are usually the innocent parties, on occasion they are partly to blame for the accident that has occurred.  If you were partly to blame for the injury you have sustained then this may affect the amount of compensation that you are awarded. This may be the case if you are involved in a crash but were not wearing your seat belt for instance and is called contributory negligence.

In most cases of contributory negligence your award will be reduced as a percentage according to the percentage of blame the court accredits to you. For example, if you were found to be 50% negligent for your injury then you will only receive 50% of the compensation. This does not mean that you will have to pay for your legal fees as they are the responsibility of the guilty party, even if you were held 90% responsible for the accident.

This is similar to a split liability claim where both parties may have conflicting versions of what happened, making liability difficult to prove. In such instances your solicitor may agree to accept the case on a split liability basis. This essentially means that both parties will accept a proportion of the blame and again only a percentage of the compensation award will be recovered.

Common types of passenger accidents we deal with

 The different types of passenger accidents we commonly see include:

Making a no win no fee claim

When you make a claim for passenger injury compensation through YouClaim it will be absolutely risk free. We work on a no win, no fee basis, meaning that you will not have to pay your solicitor's fees in the event that your claim is unsuccessful. It means you have nothing to lose and everything to gain when making a claim. 

YouClaim has a team of specialist solicitors with a wealth of experience in dealing with these sorts of claims and our excellent success rate speaks for itself.

We offer free legal advice to all our customers so if you have any further questions about the no win no fee process or your rights after sustaining an injury as a passenger then give us a call on 0800 10 757 95 today or click the "start claim" button below and we'll call you back.