By Jo McKenzie. Last Updated 16th June 2023. Welcome to our guide on how to claim hit and run compensation. If you’ve been involved in a hit and run accident due to another road user’s negligence, you may be eligible to claim compensation for your injuries.
Hit and run compensation claims guide
A car accident could leave you with injuries of varying severities. If you could prove that the accident was the fault of another party, you could be owed compensation. It is important to note that you could only make a personal injury claim if you were injured as a result of the hit and run incident.
Sometimes, when a car accident occurs, the driver at fault may leave the scene without providing their contact or insurance details. Normally, in a road traffic accident claim, the at-fault driver would be held liable for any injuries, and their insurance provider would be required to pay you compensation. However, this may be difficult if you cannot trace the driver or they are uninsured.
Read on to find out how you might still be able to claim hit and run compensation for a car accident caused by negligence involving an untraced or uninsured driver. You can get in touch with our team of advisors at any time if you have any further queries. They can provide free legal advice about your case and may be able to pass you on to a solicitor from our panel.
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Select A Section
- Hit And Run Accidents – What Is A Hit And Run?
- What Should You Do After A Hit And Run Accident?
- How Do You Make A Claim Against An Untraced Driver?
- Compensation For A Hit And Run
- How Hit And Run Compensation Solicitors Could Help You
Hit And Run Accidents – What Is A Hit And Run?
According to The Sentencing Council, a hit and run accident is a situation where somebody doesn’t stop at the scene of a road traffic accident that they may be responsible for causing. Such actions are unlawful under the Road Traffic Act 1988. It’s a legal requirement for both parties involved in a car accident to stop their vehicles and exchange insurance details. This is especially important if the cars and/or the driver and any passengers suffer damage.
A hit and run penalty in the UK could be significant if someone fails to do stop at the scene of an accident.
If you’ve been involved in a hit and run in the UK and want to know if you can claim, get in touch with us at any time.
Penalties For Driving Offences
The Sentencing Council outlines the different penalties a person could face if they were at fault in a hit and run accident. Generally, the penalty depends on the level of culpability and the extent of any damage caused.
There are three categories of offence used for these prosecutions. These are:
- Category 1. Greater harm and higher culpability
- Category 2. Lower culpability and greater harm or higher culpability and lesser harm
- Category 3. Lesser harm and lower culpability
The Sentencing Council may judge a person to have higher culpability if they:
- Did not stop in a situation where a breath, blood or urine sample would have been requested if they had
- Failed to stop as they were avoiding arrest for another offence
- Fled the scene as they knew or suspected they had caused personal injury
- Gave false details
Harm is demonstrated by causing injury and/or significant damage. It’s possible a person could face fines, community orders and custodial sentences if they are found guilting of fleeing a hit and run accident scene.
What Are The Hit An Run Claim Criteria?
To be eligible to make a personal injury claim for hit and run compensation, you will need to prove that you were injured due to another road user breaching their duty of care.
Road users owe a duty of care under the Road Traffic Act 1988. Per their duty of care, they must navigate and use the roads in a way that avoids causing harm to others as well as themselves. Furthermore, they must abide by the rules set out in the Highway Code. Should another road user fail to adhere to their duty of care, and you are injured as a result, you may be able to make a personal injury claim.
In instances of a hit and run, a claim could be made through the Motor Insurers’ Bureau (MIB). The MIB help to compensate those who have been affected by uninsured and untraced drivers.
To check your eligibility to make a personal injury claim following a hit and run, please contact our advisors.
What Should You Do After A Hit And Run Accident?
If you’ve been harmed in a hit and run accident, the first thing we recommend is seeking medical help. You may need to ring 999 or find your nearest emergency service for more severe injuries. For mild injuries, you may prefer to call 111, visit your GP or attend a walk-in centre.
Once you have received medical attention for your injuries, you should report the incident to the police. They should assist you in searching for the driver who hit you, who you could then claim against directly if they have valid insurance.
You could also begin gathering evidence to support your claim. You do not need to hire a solicitor to do this, but we recommend that you do. They will have the experience to know what evidence will be best to support your hit and run compensation claim. This could include:
- Medical reports
- The contact details of any witnesses so a statement can later be taken
- A police report
- CCTV footage
- Photographs of the scene of the accident, or of your injuries
However, this list is not exhaustive. Your claim may be supported by another form of evidence, and a personal injury solicitor from our panel might be able to advise you on this. Get in touch with our advisors today to find out more.
Hit And Run Claim Time Limits
If you’ve been injured in a hit and run, compensation claims need to be started within 3 years of your injuries being sustained. This is stated in the Limitation Act 1980. However, it’s important to know that there are two exceptions to this time limit.
Injured Children
If an injury is sustained by anyone under 18, they can’t make a claim by themselves. As a result, their 3-year time limit does not begin until their 18th birthday. Before then, a litigation friend must be appointed if a claim is to be made on their behalf.
Those Who Lack The Mental Capacity To Claim
If the injured party is deemed incapable of making their own claim for mental capacity reasons, then they must have a litigation friend appointed to claim on their behalf. Additionally, the 3-year time limit does not begin unless the injured party is ever deemed capable of making their own claim.
If you have any questions regarding time limits for compensation for a hit and run, get in touch with our advisors today.
How Do You Make A Claim Against An Untraced Driver?
This section aims to answer the question of how you might claim hit and run compensation if the driver was untraced or uninsured. You could make this type of claim through the Motor Insurer’s Bureau (MIB).
The MIB aims to compensate people if they have been involved in a road traffic accident but have been unable to locate the driver at fault or if the driver at fault had no insurance.
Gathering Evidence
During your application to claim through the MIB, they will ask you for any supporting evidence documents you may have collated. This is because they need to confirm that you’re entitled to receive compensation before paying you.
During this, they could:
- Confirm the identities of those involved
- Obtain independent reports from engineers or witnesses
- Seek a police report
- Contact other bodies, such as your insurer or the DVLA
- Request medical reports from any medical professional you visited after your accident
- Arrange an independent medical appointment for you to assess your injuries – the findings of this will be collated into a report which will also be used as evidence
They may also request other documentation from you, depending on the circumstances. For more information about how MIB investigations work, call our team of advisors today.
Rehabilitation
If you’re making a claim through the MIB for a personal injury and damages, they may also offer help with your rehabilitation. They could offer to arrange treatment for your injuries.
Call our advisors today to find out more about how the MIB could help you recover from your injuries.
Compensation For A Hit And Run
You might be looking for a hit and run compensation calculator. However, this may not be the best way to work out the value of your hit and run claim. A calculator may not be able to consider what you could claim under special damages, for example. Instead of a claims calculator, we’ve provided guideline figures from the Judicial College Guidelines (JCG) in the table below.
The JCG is a document that provides guideline values for injuries, which can be used by legal professionals to help value general damages. Our table contains figures from the 16th edition.
| Injury | Severity | Amount | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Leg | Very Serious | £54,830 to £87,890 | Multiple fractures that take years to heal and require extensive treatment. Injuries have led to permanent mobility issues, serious deformity and a limitation of movement. |
| Back | Severe (iii) | £38,780 to £69,730 | Fractures or lesions of the discs or vertebral bodies. Soft tissue injuries that lead to chronic conditions with lasting and severe discomfort and pain. Related impaired agility and sexual function. |
| Foot | Serious | £24,990 to £39,200 | Injuries within this bracket will lead to continuing pain, prolonged treatment and the risk of surgery. |
| Neck | Moderate (i) | £24,990 to £38,490 | Fractures or dislocations that caused immediate and severe symptoms. Or serious soft tissue injuries to the neck and back combined. Markedly impaired function or a risk of further issues. |
| Face | (b) | £14,900 to £23,950 | Mutiple fractures of facial bones that result in some sort of permanent facial deformity. |
| Cheekbones | (i) | £10,200 to £15,780 | Serious fractures that require surgery but will still cause lasting consequences such as disfigurement. |
| Arm | (d) | £6,610 to £19,200 | Simple fracture of the forearm. |
| Head | Minor | £2,210 to £12,770 | This will be judged on the extent of the original injury, and any lasting symptoms. Brain damage will have been minimal, if present at all. |
| Teeth | (iii) | £2,200 to £3,950 | The serious damage to, or loss of, one front tooth. |
Compensation for a hit and run accident may also include special damages. If you have incurred any costs, or experienced any financial loss due to your hit and run injuries and can prove them, you might be able to recover your losses. Proof could come as receipts, invoices or even payslips.
Special damages could include:
- Loss of earnings.
- Medical expenses that aren’t covered by the NHS, such as therapy costs.
- Home/vehicle adaptions.
Call our advisors for a free estimation of your hit and run claim.
How Hit And Run Compensation Solicitors Could Help You
If you’ve been in a car accident where the at-fault driver has fled the scene, you could be entitled to hit and run compensation. But you may be holding back from starting a claim if you have concerns about funding the work of a solicitor.
A No Win No Fee agreement could benefit you. This means you will not be required to pay out of pocket upfront or ongoing costs to your solicitor. Another benefit is that if your claim does not succeed, you won’t be required to pay your solicitor for their work.
Your solicitor will take a success fee from your compensation if your claim is successful. They will only deduct this once your compensation is fully paid; furthermore, the fee is legally capped. The legal cap means you get to keep the majority of your compensation.
Hopefully, this eases your mind about funding the work of a solicitor. Hiring the right solicitor could be the difference between failure and success in your hit and run compensation claim. So why not get in touch with Public Interest Lawyers today?
Our team of advisors can offer free legal advice and could also pass you on to a solicitor from our panel who could help you. To get in touch, you can:
- Call us on 0800 408 7825
- Fill out our online contact form
- Use the live chatbox on this page
Resources
Thank you for reading our guide about hit and run compensation claims. We hope you found it helpful. For more relevant resources, please see below.
How To Successfully Claim Car Accident Compensation – Read our guide here to find out how to claim compensation after a car accident successfully.
Will the New Whiplash Claim Rules Affect My Claim? – Find out more about the Whiplash Reform Programme rules and how they may affect your claim.
Compensation Payout for a Fractured Neck – Learn how much you could claim if an accident has left you with a fractured neck.
Whiplash – The NHS guide to whiplash and how this may affect people.
Compensation for Victims of Uninsured or Hit and Run Drivers – This Government page provides support for victims of hit and runs.
Guide to Making a Claim – The MIB’s extensive guide on how to claim through them.
Thank you for reading our guide about hit and run compensation claims.
Guide by AO
Publisher ET