Can I make a claim?

For you to be able to make a claim for personal injury compensation, it is essential that your injury or illness occurred as a result of someone else’s carelessness. This is legally known as negligence. If an accident happens as a result of your own carelessness you will have no claim. In addition, if it isn’t possible to show that an accident was someone else’s fault, even if it wasn’t your own, it is very unlikely you will be able to recover anything. If an accident was partly your own fault and partly someone else’s you will receive compensation, but it will be reduced by a proportion equal to the degree of your own carelessness, or contributory negligence. If, for example, only 60% of the blame for an accident is attributed to the other party, then your compensation will be reduced by 40%.