Injured driver awarded eight times more with independent lawyers

Mr Henry, a 60-year-old man from Kirkcaldy, had stopped his car to let an ambulance past but the driver behind rear end shunted his car.

“The driver was pretty arrogant and told me I shouldn’t have stopped. I don’t know if he was on his phone or something as he had no reason to run into the back of me.

“The driver told me I wasn’t getting a penny out of him from the accident and refused to give me his insurance details.”

It wasn’t until the next day Mr Henry realised how badly injured he was, he couldn’t use his right leg so he went to Victoria hospital in Kirkcaldy. He was off work for two weeks as a result.

“It was an odd injury, very horrible. Every time I would press on the brake pedal I would get a shooting pain through my leg.”

Mr Henry contacted his insurer and they recommended a company in Glasgow and passed his details along. He had taken pictures at the scene of the accident making it easier to trace the driver.

“I did not have a positive experience with the previous solicitors dealing with my claim. I could never speak to anyone when I wanted to and they never even asked me about my injuries.”

He received a compensation offer for his injuries from the other driver’s insurer, which his solicitors urged him to accept. This was without any medical reports or a medical examination to determine the compensation he was owed.  If he wanted to obtain his medical records and a medical report, this would cost in the region of £800.

“It was a total waste of time to be honest. It was only two or three weeks after the accident that they offered me £1,000 – I think it was just a tactic to get me to go away.”

Mr Henry refused to accept the offer. He had not signed any paperwork from the law firm and decided to look elsewhere.

“At that point I was in quite a bit of pain and I knew that was nowhere near what I was due.

“It was clear that they weren’t the right people to go to so I decided to contact Digby Brown.”

He later found out that the solicitors dealing with his case actually act for car insurers to defend injury claims made by drivers, so they were not independent.

Ryan Smith, Senior Solicitor in our Kirkcaldy office, took over the handling of his injury claim. He did all the necessary investigations and obtained the right medical records.

In the end, Mr Henry secured a settlement of £8,000 which is eight times the offer his previous solicitors achieved.

“There was no comparison, the other company were just terrible, they didn’t have a clue.

“Everything with Digby Brown was painless, the whole process was very smooth. Ryan was were very thorough and asked me all the right questions, focusing on how my injuries from the accident impacted on different things I did in my life.

“It went like clock-work and I have no hesitation to recommend people to Digby Brown. I’ve already told someone who was in a car crash to go to Digby Brown as they will do their very best for you.”