Taxi Driver Online

Having had a head on accident in December with my Eurocab taxi being written off I now need some info on compensation claims.
The insurance company have already paid out on the vehicle. A 5 year old Scudo - £8,225. (I think that was a fair price). I'm paying £210 per week to rent a taxi, but I believe the insurance company will stop paying this as they have settled the vehicle claim.
I have been told by the company dealing with the loss of earnings, injury etc that it may be upto a year to receive compensation. Is that correct?

The driver who hit my vehicle head on has admitted that it was his fault - he was getting a tab from his pocket and took his eye off the road. The impact of the crash was around 40 mph. I broke to around 15mph - he was doing around 25mph.

I had 4 young women passengers in the back of the taxi with cuts and bruising etc. The driver of the other vehicle had cuts to his face.

I have received pain to my upper arms, neck, shoulders, back & leg. The doctor at the hospital has also said I have whiplash injuries. The next day I made an appointment to see my doctor as the pain in my leg was unbearable.
My local GP has said I have a damaged sciatic nerve. This is the main nerve which runs from your back and down each leg.

A web site on Sciatic nerves states:

Pain in the buttocks and/or leg that is worse when sitting.

Burning or tingling down the leg.

Weakness, numbness or difficulty moving the leg or foot.

A constant pain on one side of the buttocks.

A shooting pain that makes it difficult to stand up.

This is exactly what I have. The doctor has also said it is extremely difficult to fix the problem!! Once your Sciatic nerve is damaged, its damaged!

Therefore my question is when an offer of compensation arrives what should I expect or be happy with, if I'm going to have this ongoing pain.
The accident happened on 1st December and I can only manage around 3-4 hours per night before the pain hits in really bad. I've made bugger all during the xmas period.
The GP also said the accident was the equivalent of jumping off a 40 foot wall and landing on one leg!

So, is my claim, including loss of xmas earnings, stress, and injury in the £3000 bracket or £13000 bracket ? ? ?

My friend has informed me he has had two whiplash claims (the second one he was hit at 5mph from behind and received £3000 twice !

I have also been told never to accept the first offer - is that correct?

I'm sure one or two taxi drivers out there have had successful compensation claims who can help.

Cheers for your help.

Pain in the arse reading a long post isn't it!


C.

First off mate I'm sorry about the accident, it happens all over the country to all cabbies mate, compensation can take up to 5 years to sort out. it took my sister that long to get £1,500 for whiplash. Going on to the sciatica bit, get yourself an inversion table they cost about £199 and are good for bad backs, all they do is reverse the effect of gravity pulling your spine to-wards your head rather than to-wards your feet. They work because I've got one and about 15 years ago I had a accident down the mines, 5 operations later and an inversion table I'm fine.

That aint all they do. They get your mates a well-due round of drinks. These tables are very good for pulling your wallet out of your pocket.

That is the only way you pals have of getting a round off drinks off yer.

Cheerio!!

Claude

A friend of mine had a no-fault accident just under two years ago.

He had to have an operation to remove one of his vertebrates. Thankfully he is back to work, although he can't work as many hours as he did prior to the accident.

He still hasn't had his loss of earnings, even though he tried to mitigate them by returning to work earlier than perhaps he should.

He is due to be offered a sum soon, following a further assessment by an independent doctor, but even though his injuries were nasty, his barrister has said he is only looking at between 15 and 20 grand.

His back will never be the same, or right again.

As for you, whether you accept your first, second or third offer is down to your personnel circumstances. If you can, leave it as long as possible, because each assessment makes your case better, providing that's your back doesn't better itself.

Back to the barrister, whatever he suggests you do, please do it. They have lists of payments made for every type of injury, as does the other insurance company. Thus it's quite simple to come to an arrangement.

But whatever happens, it wont for a while.

_________________
IDFIMH

Really appreciate the quickness of the posts - thanks.

My first attempt at getting my nerve corrected is a "warming pad" - think thats the cheapest option at the moment.

Cheers
Chris

Mr Guest.

If you want your back to get better don't bother with a Doctor.

I have recently discovered a therapy called Bowen Treatment.

Search out someone local to you. 100 quid worth of treatment will put you right as rain.