Highest claim ever made

The highest ever compensation payable in the UK is thought to have been awarded to Wasim Mohammed. He was awarded compensation on a no win no fee basis with the help of personal injury lawyers.

Mr Mohammed, a 22 year old from the West Midlands, was awarded compensation of £11.15 million in a personal injury claim. He was a passenger in a vehicle involved in a horrendous collision when the driver, who was exceeding the speed limit, tried overtaking a vehicle at a junction. This manoeuvre resulted in the vehicle slamming into another car that was turning right.

The horrific accident resulted in Mr Mohammed’s neck being broken and injuries to his spinal cord with little or no movement in his arms and legs leaving him basically paralysed with no chance of a cure.

The driver was convicted of careless driving and the huge sum of money that Mr Mohammed received for his catastrophic injuries indicates the amount that will be needed to compensate him for the remainder of his life. He requires the services of two full time carers to tend to his needs. The sum is broken down into a lump sum payment of £4.25 million plus yearly payments of £235,000.

This enormous sum reflects the high cost of care that he will require, pain and suffering he will endure together with loss of earnings and money to build a property near his parents’ house so that they are accessible. Mr Mohammed’s culture states that the eldest son must stay at home with his parents to look after them in their old age. The compromise is the building of a property near them as he is unfit to care for them.

No win no fee solicitors can deal with your compensation claim in a professional, efficient manner.

Highest claim ever made

Children’s accidents

Children by their very nature are inclined to be accident prone, but sometimes accidents are someone else’s fault. If your child has been injured it may be worth making a compensation claim through personal injury lawyers on a no win no fee basis.

Witnessing an accident involving your own or any child is very traumatic. The incident will also be very distressing for the child and can have long term ramifications.

One of the most common setting for children’s accidents is at school, whether in the actual school building, in the playground, sports ground or on school trips such as visiting museums.

Just like employers, schools are under a statutory duty to provide safe premises for children. Some of the time, accidents happen on the sports ground because a goal post is loose and collapses on the child or where tiles around the swimming pool are wet and slippery after cleaning.

The furniture provided in the classroom must be safe so that if a desk leg is loose and falls on the child then that accident may well give rise to a compensation claim.

Children can also be injured as passengers whilst travelling in a bus, taxi or car which crashes due to the driver’s negligence.

Children may slip on a supermarket floor where a warning sign has not been displayed or may be knocked over on a pavement by a reckless cyclist.

A personal injury claim will involve a compensation claim for the child’s physical injuries and possibly psychological injury too. Additionally a claim may be made for loss of earnings if the child’s parents or guardians take time off work to care for him; travel expenses incurred in seeking medical attention and the child’s damaged clothes.

Contact no win no fee solicitors to claim compensation rightfully due for your child’s injuries.

Children’s accidents

Online scams - How to avoid them?

Online scams are increasingly sophisticated as scammers think up ever devious and plausible ways of coaxing you into parting with your money. No win no fee solicitors may be your best choice if you have been scammed and are seeking compensation.

A huge proportion of purchases happen via the internet as more goods are available worldwide 24 hours a day.

Buying goods online involves you having to make a judgement and placing your trust in the retailer. If you are purchasing from a new web site, make sure that you read the small print. Make sure the company exists, so try phoning the number usually listed on the contact page.

Do not respond to any request from an online retailer to divulge your bank or credit card details in an email. It is worth remembering that any company which asks you for such details is likely to be disreputable whereas a legitimate company would not do this.

Beware of ordering goods as a result of unsolicited emails. At the very least you should check out the website which can often be gleaned from the wording. An unsolicited email from abc@1234.co.uk should prompt you to look up 1234.co.uk via a search engine so that you can obtain more information on the company.

Once you have the company name it is prudent to carry out a free search at http://www.companieshouse.co.uk which will show how many times the company has changed its name and when it began trading.

Avoid companies which have changed their name numerous times as they may be experiencing financial difficulties and trying to avoid being made insolvent. They may not reliable entities and you should not do business with such companies is you have any doubts.

If you are involved in an online scam, personal injury lawyers can advise on your compensation claim on a no win no fee basis.

Online scams - How to avoid them?

5 Strangest claims

Some of the weirder compensation claims have taken place outside of the UK. In particular the United States is known for its unusual lawsuits.

Most of the cases are issued by no win no fee solicitors or attorneys and some are listed below.

One notorious case in the United States concerns an obese boy who issued a lawsuit against a fast food chain because the restaurant hadn't warned him that eating huge numbers of burgers was detrimental to his health.

A man put his camper van on cruise control at 70 mph and made himself a cup of coffee whereby the vehicle left the road. He sued the manufacturers of the van who had failed to tell him that the vehicle wouldn't self steer around bends on cruise control.

A woman slipped in dog urine on a kitchen floor and sustained an ankle injury. The strange part is that she sued the owner of the house who was a good personal friend maintaining that he should have cleared up the dog’s mess.

An American gentleman was eating some salted peanuts when he chewed on a brittle foreign object. The object was in fact a tooth from an unidentified animal. He was disgusted and understandably made a personal injury compensation claim against the manufacturers of the peanuts stating that the sight of the animal tooth made him extremely ill and caused him mental anguish.

One of the weirder claims in the UK involved a woman who won a radio quiz where the prize was a Renault Clio. However the prize turned out to be a small model replica of the car and she succeeded in her claim against the radio station receiving compensation of £8000 to purchase the real vehicle.

If you think you have a compensation claim, contact personal injury lawyers on a no win no fee basis.

5 Strangest claims

Claiming council tax benefit

Council tax benefit is paid to people on a low income to assist them in paying their council tax. The benefit is paid by the local council and the council tax bill is accordingly reduced.

In order to qualify to claim council tax relief you must reside in the UK. People from abroad or those who have recently arrived in the UK to set up residence may encounter difficulty in claiming the benefit due to their immigration status.

Eligibility for council tax relief depends on the amount of your income and capital. If you live with your partner only one of you is entitled to claim the benefit and your capital and income will be assessed jointly. Lesbian and gay partners are treated the same as heterosexual partners and the joint assessment applies if your relationship is based on cohabitation, marriage or civil partnership.

If you receive Income Support, Income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance, income related employment and support allowance or the guarantee credit element of pension credit, then you will receive 100 per cent benefit, covering your entire council tax bill.

However, if other people reside in your household a deduction may be made from your council tax benefit known as a “non-dependant” deduction which is determined by the status of the other non-dependant adult. An adult child living with you may lead to a reduction in the benefit, whereas some other non-dependants will not lead to such a deduction, because of their personal status such as receiving pension credit themselves.

A deduction will not be made if the other adult in your household is your landlord, partner, co-owner or lodger as such persons are not considered “non-dependant”.

Personal injury solicitors can assist in your compensation claim for council tax benefit on a no win no fee basis.

Claiming council tax benefit

Claiming your pension credit

Nearly half of pensioners in the United Kingdom are entitled to pension credit yet, despite being eligible, approximately a third are not claiming it.

If you are one of those pensioners you could be entitled to hundreds or thousands of pounds a year.
Pension credit is comprised of two parts and is a form of government compensation to ensure a certain level of subsistence. Your eligibility may be for one or both parts.

Guarantee credit aims to ensure that everyone over the minimum state pension age, currently 60 but rising to 65 between 2010 and 2020, has a minimum guaranteed income level. The level of income is determined by comparing your actual income with the amount the Government says you need to exist. The level is called the standard minimum guarantee.

Savings credit is paid to persons aged 65 and upwards who have some retirement savings on top of their basic state pension.

You may be entitled to more pension credit if you receive a carer’s allowance or, if a homeowner, you pay service charges and mortgage payments.
Pension credit is means-tested so your income and savings are taken into account when working out your entitlement. Not all income is taken into account and disability and extreme disability allowances are ignored as are war widows’ supplementary pensions.

The payment of pension credit triggers entitlement to other payments such as funeral costs, crisis loans, free school meals and cold weather payments

The maximum period which your pension credit claim can be backdated is three months. Payment is made directly into your bank account which is swift, secure and convenient.
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You could be missing out on valuable government compensation in the form of pension credit.
Personal injury lawyers can assist in your claim for pension credit on a no win no fee basis.

Claiming your pension credit

Disability at work claim?

The Disability Discrimination Act 1995 (as amended) (“DDA”) protects individuals from discrimination by their employers on the grounds of disability.

“Disability” is a physical or mental impairment having a major and long term adverse effect on the ability to carry out normal activities. The disability must have lasted, or be likely to last, for at least 12 months to be considered “long term”.

Employees, who feel that they are being subjected to such discrimination by their employer or a co-worker, may bring a claim in the Employment Tribunal.

Under the DDA there is no qualifying period of employment so an employee could bring a claim on day one. The DDA applies to employees, the self-employed, agency workers and job applicants.

The DDA applies to both public and private sector employers and a claim must be brought within three months from the date of the incident.

The DDA forbids direct discrimination where a person is treated less favourably than another person for a reason directly attributed to their disability, such as where an employer automatically excludes a job applicant who has put bi polar on the application form. Claims can also be brought for indirect discrimination for reasons connected with a disability and for the employer’s failure to make reasonable adaptations to premises.

Compensation can be awarded for injury to feelings and financial losses if appropriate. Compensation is uncapped and can encompass loss of past and future earnings; loss of pension, interest and other expenditure connected with the discrimination. Aggravated damages can be awarded for injury to feelings where the employer has acted in a particularly despicable manner. If you become ill and depressed, usually found in harassment cases, you can also claim compensation.

Personal injury lawyers can assist with your compensation claim on a no win no fee basis.

Disability at work claim?