On 13 February 2021, Ms Audrey Anderson was involved in a road traffic accident (RTA) on the A68, south of Pathhead, Midlothian. Ms Anderson contacted Thompsons so that we could assist her in making a claim for personal injury compensation.

The background

On the day of the RTA, the weather was very cold and there was ice on the roads.

Unfortunately, Ms Anderson's vehicle slid when she hit and icy patch and she came to a halt on the side of the road. At this point she was safe and uninjured, but moments later, another vehicle slid on the ice and collided with her car.

The impact caused significant damage and our client's car was consequently written off. Ms Anderson also suffered injury as a result of the impact.

The consequences

Once Ms Anderson had instructed Thompsons personal injury solicitors, we sought medical evidence to confirm the full extent of the injuries she had sustained in the RTA.

The GP's report concluded that Ms Anderson was suffering neck and shoulder pain and paraesthesia (burning, tingling, and numbness) to her right hand, right index finger and right middle finger. She was also suffering from symptoms of anxiety. The prognosis to full recovery was originally five months.

Following an intimation of a claim with the third party driver's insurer, Ms Anderson noticed that her symptoms were beginning to worsen rather than resolve and once the five-month prognosis term was up, we instructed further medical reports from an orthopaedic expert and a psychological expert.

The settlement

An initial settlement offer was made by the defender of £2,670. We considered this far too low and it was rejected by our client. A second offer was increased by the defender to £2,710 – an increase of £40. This was also rejected.

The secondary set of medical reports resulted in Ms Anderson being referred to a pain specialist due to her ongoing symptoms of neuropraxia (traumatic peripheral nerve injury).

Once the medical reports were finalised and sent to the defender we made a counter offer on behalf of Ms Anderson.

The defender increased their settlement sum to £20,000 and following further negotiations a final personal injury settlement sum of £22,500 (almost £20,000 more than the first offer) was received.

Ms Anderson was happy to accept this sum and the car accident claim settlement was agreed in August 2022.