If you are unlucky enough to be involved in a road traffic accident, always follow this basic guidance:

Health And Safety First

First and foremost, you should always take care to avoid further injury to yourself or others at the scene, and to safeguard yourself, and others where possible, from risk of harm. If there is any risk of fire or explosion, or if you suspect that another driver involved in the accident may be under the influence of drink or drugs, it is vital to call the emergency services straight away.

However, unless a serious injury has occurred or there is a potential risk of damage or injury to other motorists due to the accident, it is unlikely that the emergency services will attend the scene.

For this reason, it is important to record as much information as possible at the scene itself, so that you can refer back to it later.

If you are injured due to your accident, first of all, take care of yourself and get the medical help you need. Then, contact us to be put in touch with our specialist personal injury solicitors, who can help you if you need to claim compensation for any type of accident or injury.

Do Not Admit Liability

Do not admit liability for the accident to any other party present, under any circumstances. This rule applies not only on the scene itself, but also later on, such as if you receive a phone call from the other driver or their insurers after the accident. Generally, you should also avoid speaking to the insurer of the negligent driver after the accident at all, and seek assistance before responding to any correspondence you might receive from them.
As a rule, the negligent driver will seek to reduce their liability in terms of the amount of any compensation that you might be entitled to receive from them, and unless you have received proper advice about this, you may not even realise what you could be entitled to.

Anything that you say to the other party, or their insurer, may be recorded, and may later prejudice the outcome of your claim.

Collect Information

Whilst still on the scene of the accident, you should obtain as many of the following details about the drivers of any other vehicles involved in the accident or collision as possible, and perform a basic car accident check on your own car.

• If any injuries were caused by the accident, or any damage to street furniture or the road itself, make notes about this.
• If the other driver(s) involved did not stop after the accident, or refused to provide their name, address, vehicle registration or insurance details, record what you can and report the accident to the police.
• You will generally have to do this in person, and if the police will not take the details from you, ask them to provide you with a self-reporting accident form, so that you can comply with your legal responsibilities.

Take a note of all of all of the following too:

• The name, address and phone number of the other driver.
• Their vehicle registration number, make and model.
• The exact damage and the location of the damage caused.
• The other party’s insurance company and policy number.
• The names, addresses and phone numbers of any witnesses.
• A plan of the accident scene and, if you have a camera with a phone, some photographs too.

Call PM Accident Assist

Call our accident claim centre on 0116 444 3786, and we can provide you with assistance to confirm whether you were  at fault or not at  for the accident, and help to advise you on how to go about Making a claim

Following a non-fault car accident that you were not to blame for, you are entitled to have the situation rectified immediately, so that you are returned to the position that you were in immediately before the accident and not inconvenienced any more than necessary. This means that it is your right to be provided with replacement transportation, such as a courtesy car, to an equivalent standard as that of your damaged vehicle, and also, to have your own vehicle repaired and restored to its pre-accident condition.

You also have the right to claim compensation for any depreciation to your vehicle’s value as a result of damage caused by the accident and subsequent accident repair, and also, claim restitution for any pain and suffering you undergo as a result of a personal injury caused by the accident.

PM Accident Assist can advise and assist you with recovering all of these losses.

Be Realistic

When you make a claim for compensation against another party after a car accident, it is your duty under common law to mitigate, which means that you can only ask for your losses to be compensated to a reasonable amount.

However, mitigation does not mean that you have to lose out or accept a loss, and PM Accident Assist can help you to ensure that that does not happen.

Wherever possible, retain receipts for items of expenditure that you incur as a result of the accident, which you will later wish to claim back from the negligent driver.

If you also wish to claim for incidental out-of-pocket expenses such as telephone calls and letters, and also, make a personal injury claim, you will need to keep records of all relevant details for these things too.