Taxi Accident Compensation
Does your claim qualify? Get free, no obligation advice!
If you’ve been injured in an accident involving a taxi or a private hire vehicle, through no fault of your own, you could be eligible to claim compensation.
There’s no question about it, taxis and private hire vehicles are a great way to get around big cities. They’re also an important method of transportation for a night out, when avoiding the dangers of drinking and driving. However, as with all other means of transportation, while riding in a taxi, there is the potential for road traffic accidents.
Taxi drivers are experienced road users, but, as always, accidents can and do happen and a taxi accident can leave passengers seriously injured.
If you have been involved in an accident as a passenger in a taxi, you may be able to make a claim for personal injury compensation.
You can get started by talking to a trained legal adviser on 0800 234 6438, or request a callback by submitting your name and phone number using one of the contact forms on this page.
When you use taxis or private hire vehicles, your safety is out of your control. You trust that the driver and the vehicle that you’re travelling in will keep you safe.
As a passenger you have no control over your journey and it is not your responsibility to drive safely – this is something that is expected of taxi drivers and all other road users. This means that as a passenger, you are much more likely to receive an injury during an incident that wasn’t your fault.
This can include injuries sustained at the time of the accident, as well as any long-lasting effects that may develop later on. It is important to note that you will need medical evidence to support your taxi accident claim.
It may also be possible to claim additional expenses following this incident. These could include things like:
If you’ve been involved in a minicab or taxi accident, you’ll know how traumatic the experience can be. From whiplash to broken bones, you could suffer from any number of injuries that you could seek compensation for. For example:
Whiplash is a neck injury that occurs when the head is suddenly thrown forward, back, or sideways. Whiplash can lead to headaches and neck pain. It can also cause stiffness in the neck and shoulders, making it hard to turn your head or move your neck.
Whiplash can happen if you’re driving or travelling in a vehicle that stops suddenly after hitting another car or object in front of it. A sudden stop forces your body forward faster than normal speed limits allow for; this overshoots its natural limit for slowing down safely, injuring soft tissues like muscles and tendons around your spine.
A traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a type of brain injury that can result from exposure to sudden and severe mechanical force, such as in a car crash. A TBI may cause immediate or delayed symptoms, which may range from mild to severe.
The severity of a person’s symptoms depends on the speed with which they hit their head, how long it takes for them to receive treatment, whether there was bleeding inside the skull cavity, and whether any bones were broken.
Head injuries are common in taxi accidents and can be life changing, even fatal. If you suffer a head injury during a taxi accident you may experience some of the following symptoms:
If you’ve been in a car accident, your spinal cord may be damaged. While this is not as common as other injuries caused by taxi accidents, it’s still possible for the damage to cause paralysis and loss of feeling.
Broken bones and fractures are common injuries following minicab or taxi accidents. Broken bones and fractures can be treated with medical treatment and rehabilitation.
However, broken bones and fractures can also cause permanent disability if not properly cared for.
If you’re interested in making a claim, there are things you can do at the scene of the accident, and shortly after, to increase your chances of success.
First, be sure to record all the details you can about your taxi cab, driver and company. Try to get the contact information of others involved in the accident and those who witnessed the accident too.
Second, if you can, take photos of the scene and draw a sketch showing what happened leading up to the accident.
At your earliest opportunity you should also seek medical attention. Your injuries might seem mild, but common road traffic accident injuries such as whiplash sometimes take a couple days to develop. Also, getting a thorough medical checkup means that there is an official record to support your case.
Your last step is to sue for compensation. Your claim should be successful if you can prove that the taxi accident was someone else’s fault and you’ve suffered an injury as a result.
To do this, you’ll need to contact a personal injury solicitor, preferably one who has had experience and success handling taxi passenger accident claims in the past.
You can get started by talking to a trained legal adviser on 0800 234 6438, or request a callback by submitting your name and phone number using one of the contact forms on this page.
While many taxi accident injuries are the result of another vehicle colliding with the taxi you’re travelling in, sometimes the driver of the taxi, through negligence or fault, could also be responsible for an injury you’ve sustained. So, who do you claim compensation from?
Who you claim from will depend on the particulars of your case. If the accident was the taxi driver’s fault, you will claim from the driver’s insurance company (or possibly the taxi company’s insurance provider).
On the other hand, if it was another driver who caused the accident, you will claim from that person. So no matter who was at fault for the accident, because you are an entirely innocent victim, you should be entitled to make a claim for compensation.
In instances where a dangerous or poorly maintained road is to blame for the accident, you may need to sue for compensation from the council or another local authority.
According to the Highways Act of 1980 a local authority has a legal duty to maintain the integrity of the road surface and to repair any faults such as potholes within a reasonable space of time.
Making such a claim will involve demonstrating that the local authority in question had been made aware of the poor condition of the road, and had failed to take the steps necessary to repair it.
Getting hold of the evidence for this may involve making a Freedom of Information request to the local authority, who will be obliged to detail not only their road repair programme, but also any complaints they had received about the road in question.
Taxi drivers have a duty of care to passengers – they are responsible for keeping their passengers safe from harm. They must ensure that the vehicle they’re driving is fit for use, and drive it safely.
If the accident was caused by poor upkeep of the taxi itself, then the taxi company has not only let you down, it has broken the law.
The Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 states that employers have to ensure that not only are their employees safe whilst at work, but also that nobody else should be put at risk by work related driving activity. This applies to the self-employed as well as those working for someone else, and clearly covers the activities of taxi drivers.
Another act, the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999, stipulates the risk assessments which companies must undergo in order to ensure the safety of both their employees and anyone else who might be affected by their activities.
A risk assessment carried out on a taxi should include daily inspections of the following:
You may also be able to make a claim if you were not actually travelling in the taxi at all; but instead just happened to be passing by when the accident happened (e.g., walking along with friends).
To find out more about making taxi accident claims, call free on 0800 234 6438 and speak to a trained legal adviser about your claim.
If you’ve been injured in a taxi or minicab accident, you could be entitled to make a personal injury claim.
Find out more about car crash compensation.
How much compensation you can expect to receive will depend on a number of factors. These include:
The amount of compensation settlement you could receive depends on:
If you’ve been injured in a taxi or minicab accident, you could make a no win no fee* claim. However, you usually only have three years from the date of the accident to submit your claim.
If you’re making a claim on behalf of a child however, you have until their 18th birthday to make a claim, or they have until their 21st birthday to make their own claim.
You may be able to claim compensation even if the time period has lapsed under certain circumstances. These include: if your injuries are only now being realised, or if you or your loved one doesn’t have the mental capacity to make a legal decision because of the severity of the injuries they sustained in the car accident.
To find out more about taxi accident claims, call free on 0800 234 6438 and speak to a trained legal adviser about your claim.
Ride-sharing apps, such as Uber, have been steadily growing in popularity in recent years. Uber is now available in most areas of the UK, and as a result accidents involving Uber drivers are becoming more commonplace. As with other private hire taxi drivers, Uber drivers are required to take out “Private Hire Vehicle Insurance”, which will cover any injuries suffered by passengers in an accident.
If the driver has not complied with the law by taking out the correct insurance, Uber’s own insurance company will step in to provide cover.
In any case, a personal injury solicitor will need to be contacted in the event of an accident to get the compensation claim process started on your behalf.
To find out more about taxi accident claims, call free on 0800 234 6438 and speak to a trained legal adviser about your claim.
Hundreds of personal injury solicitors across the UK choose to work on thousands of no win no fee claims every year. You can certainly find a qualified professional to handle your claim on a conditional fee basis, too.
If a taxi accident has had consequences on your life, you need to be aware of your options. You can call a trained legal adviser free on 0800 234 6438 or complete the online claim form and get advice as soon as possible. If you have a strong case, you could be speaking to a personal injury solicitor today.
If you’ve been injured due to the failure of a taxi company (or driver) to properly maintain their vehicle, then you have every right to make a claim for compensation. Even if you weren’t wearing a seat belt at the time of the accident you will be entitled to make a claim, since the accident itself was clearly outside your control.
The fact that you didn’t have a seat belt on may, however, be judged to have contributed to your injuries, in which case what is known as ‘contributory negligence’ and may result in the amount you are awarded being reduced.
To find out more about taxi accident claims, call free on 0800 234 6438 and speak to a trained legal adviser about your claim.
Nicola is a dual qualified journalist and non-practising solicitor. She is a legal journalist, editor and author with more than 20 years' experience writing about the law.
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