If you have been involved in an accident you may suffer mental trauma in addition to, or as well as, physical injury. Similarly, if you have witnessed an accident, you may be mentally traumatised. As a result you may have a claim and we are here to help you. This however is a complex area of the law and you need expert advice so call our helpline on 0161 707 3903 and we will provide you with an initial assessment without any obligation and of course entirely free of charge, as to whether we feel that you may have an entitlement to such a claim.

"Normal" grief, shock or fright does not give rise to a claim. To succeed, you have to show you have suffered a clinically definable illness such as reactive depression or post traumatic distress. In addition you have to prove there was a foreseeable risk on the part of the defendant that the accident would cause injury of this type.

The distinction between what are called primary and secondary victims. A former are those directly involved in the incident and they only have to prove the illness and pass the reasonable forseeability test. The latter however, are usually witnesses of the incident and they have to establish they have a sufficiently close relationship to the person involved in the accident. Certain relationships, such as husbands and wives would be presumed to qualify but usually evidence of the relationship has to be proved. Secondly, the claimant has to show that he witnessed the accident or came upon its immediate aftermath, and thirdly he has to establish that his injury was caused by shock as a result of the sudden appreciation of a horrifying event which he has either seen or heard directly.

To enable us to value your injuries we will arrange to be examined by a medical expert at a place and time convenient to you and will ask for your assistance in helping us document any other losses that you have sustained, keeping receipts or invoices where possible.

The length of your claim will be determined mainly by two factors. Firstly, how promptly the defendant admits liability and secondly the severity of your injuries. The general rule is that the more serious the injury the longer the claim takes to settle because it is not until your medical expert can give a final forecast as to when you will make a full recovery (or what your continuing disability will be in the event of you not being able to recover fully) that we can finally evaluate accurately what your claim is worth. This does not mean however, that you have to wait until the end of your claim for all your compensation. Once the other party has admitted responsibility or the court has decided on this issue in your favour, we can obtain payments on account of the final award for you.