A mother and her one-year-old baby were involved in a road traffic accident as pedestrians. Thompsons acted on behalf of the minor and his mother acted as his litigation friend to make the claim on his behalf.

On the day of the accident, the mother alighted from a bus with her son in a buggy. She made her way to the zebra crossing and, as no vehicles could be seen approaching, proceeded to make her away across. Suddenly, a third-party vehicle drove up to the crossing and failed to stop. The car hit the buggy, knocking it and the mother over. The pram took the brunt of the impact and was thrown three metres down the road. There were several witnesses to the incident, who ran down to help. The police arrived at the scene and gathered witness details as well as the details of the third-party driver.

The consequences

Our client was taken to the hospital for cuts and bruises to the right side of his head. The head injuries he sustained meant he had to be kept in overnight for observation. It was confirmed he had suffered a closed mild concessional head injury lasting for four weeks.

The settlement

Our client's grandfather was a member of Unison, and it was through the union that he was referred to Thompsons road traffic accident solicitors.

The third-party driver admitted liability and the case was settled pre-litigation. The third-party insurer paid a settlement amount of £3,000 on 13 September.

An interesting aspect of this case was that it required someone to act as a litigation friend. To learn more, you can visit our claims process page, which includes information on how to claim on behalf of someone else (perhaps because they're too young to pursue a claim themselves).