Fatal Road Accidents – Fair Compensation?

Any sort of fatal accident is always a delicate issue, and here at Camps Solicitors we understand that for the relatives of those killed in a road traffic accident, knowing that the deaths of their loved ones was someone’s fault can be particularly hard to accept.  Something else that might be hard to accept is the level of compensation paid out to the families of people whose relatives have been killed in an accident.

A recent fatal accident on the Wirral involving the tragic deaths of 5 people has brought fresh calls for a fairer level of compensation to be paid out to relatives of people killed through no fault of their own in accidents on the road.  There have also been calls from road safety campaigners for safety improvements to be made to known accident black spots, such as the stretch of road near Spital where the accident took place earlier this month.

This week I will be looking in depth at fatal accident claims, starting today with a look at how the compensation is broken down.  A fatal accident compensation claim covers three broad areas a fixed payment for bereavement, a dependency claim for any financial losses suffered by the relatives of the deceased, and a sum to cover the funeral expenses.

The bereavement payment, currently fixed at £10,000 by the government, is a standard payment made in a fatal accident to either the husband or wife of the deceased (if he or she was married) or his or her parents (if the deceased was under 18 years old).  If the accident victim was over 18, or unmarried, then no bereavement payout will be made, and the dependency claim will form majority of the compensation to be paid out.

A dependency claim can be made by certain relatives, as long as there was some element of financial dependency on the deceased person.  This dependency could have been based on tasks that the deceased person carried out (gardening, shopping, caring for elderly relatives) and it could also have been based on the wages that he or she earned.  Relatives that can make a dependency claim include parents, grandparents, children, spouses and ex-spouses.  It can also include a common law spouse; provided that the person was living with the deceased for at least two years before the accident.

For more information on fatal accident claims, contact Camps Solicitors on 0800 092 8586.  Our solicitors will be able to give you a free consultation to help you to decide whether or not to make a claim.  If you do decide to go ahead, we can make your claim on a No-Win No-Fee basis, which means that win or lose you will not pay a penny.