Personal Injury Solicitors Devon
Injury Law Specialists provides access to personal injury solicitors acting for clients across Devon, from the two cities and the dockyard in the south west to the resorts of the English Riviera, the agricultural towns of the north and the manufacturing base in mid Devon. If you have been injured in an accident that may have been caused by someone else’s negligence, we can review what happened and explain whether you may have grounds to pursue compensation.
Devon is the largest county in England by area and one of the most varied, and its claim profile reflects that. It has a defence and marine engineering base that exists in very few other places, a genuinely agricultural economy running through the whole of the north, and coastal towns whose hills, tides and exposed surfaces produce the kind of falls a flatter county never sees.
- Free initial claim assessment
- No Win No Fee may be available
- Clients throughout England & Wales
- 30+ years' collective legal experience
Four parts of Devon, four claim profiles
- The two cities and the A38 spineExeter, Plymouth and Newton Abbot
- The English Riviera and the Exe estuaryTorquay, Paignton and Exmouth
- North Devon and the A39 Atlantic HighwayBarnstaple and Bideford
- Mid Devon and the road to the moorTiverton
We help clients in Devon. We do not have an office in the county and we do not claim to.
Can I make a personal injury claim in Devon?
Yes, if you were injured in an accident caused by someone else’s negligence anywhere in Devon. Personal injury solicitors acting for Devon clients assess whether there are grounds to claim, investigate the evidence, instruct medical experts and negotiate with the insurer on your behalf. Whether a claim can be taken on depends on the circumstances, the evidence and when the accident happened, not on where you live in the county.
What makes Devon claims different
Four things account for a large share of the cases we see from Devon clients, and each of them arises here more than it does in most counties.
Dockyard, marine and shipbuilding claims
Plymouth has one of the largest concentrations of dockyard, shipbuilding and marine engineering work in the country, and Cowes-style marine claims also arise around the Devon ports and yards. These cases involve heavy machinery, lifting operations, working at height, confined spaces and vessels, and they turn on risk assessments, safe systems of work and equipment records.
Agricultural and food production injuries
Devon is a genuinely agricultural county, with dairy, livestock and mixed farming across the whole of the north and mid Devon. Farms involve machinery, livestock and uneven ground, and the same towns support substantial food production businesses, so this is a large share of local workplace claims and raises distinct questions for self employed and subcontracted workers.
Coastal slope and promenade falls
Torquay, Paignton, Exmouth, Ilfracombe and Bideford all have frontages where surfaces are exposed to salt, storms and tidal water. Torquay in particular is built on steep hills with steps and steep footpaths throughout, and combined with a large older population that makes falls on those routes a far bigger share of local claims than in a flatter county.
Single carriageway trunk roads
Devon has one motorway, the M5, which stops at Exeter. Beyond it, the peninsula is served by the A38, the A39, the A361 and the A380, and a very heavy volume of freight, agricultural and seasonal holiday traffic is funnelled onto them. Road claims here frequently involve drivers who were passing through, agricultural vehicles in unexpected places, and narrow routes carrying volumes they were never designed for.
How claims differ across Devon
The county divides into four recognisably different areas when it comes to how accidents happen.
The two cities and the A38 spine
Exeter, Plymouth and Newton Abbot
The county's two cities and the trunk road between them, where defence, marine engineering, healthcare and heavy through traffic produce a claim profile nothing else in Devon shares.
Exeter and Plymouth are the only two cities in Devon and they are very different from each other. Exeter is a cathedral city built on public administration, two large hospitals, a university and a growing digital sector, with a genuinely medieval centre of cobbles, setts and steps, and the M5 terminating just outside it. Plymouth is the largest city in Devon and one of the largest on the south coast, built around a naval base, a working port and a marine and defence industrial base, where dockyard and shipbuilding work produces claims involving heavy machinery, lifting operations, confined spaces and vessels. Newton Abbot sits between them on the A38 with a real engineering and manufacturing sector of its own. The A38 is the thread that runs through all three: it is the main trunk route to the rest of the country and carries very heavy freight, holiday and military related traffic, which means a substantial share of local road claims involve drivers who were passing through rather than residents.
Towns in this area
The English Riviera and the Exe estuary
Torquay, Paignton and Exmouth
Three resorts defined by the sea, where steep hillsides, tidal frontages and a large older population produce falls that a flatter town simply does not see.
Torquay, Paignton and Exmouth are all coastal resorts, but their geography matters more than their visitor economy when it comes to accidents. Torquay is built on a series of steep hills around its bay, so there are genuine gradients, steps and steep footpaths throughout the town, and a substantial older population uses those routes daily. Paignton spreads along a long sandy beach with a pier and a green, and its population and traffic both swell heavily in summer, with a great deal of seasonal work in holiday accommodation and attractions. Exmouth sits at the mouth of the Exe, where the estuary is genuinely tidal, so its docks, slipways and frontage change with the water and produce a category of claim involving wet, algal and shifting surfaces that inland resorts do not have to anything like the same degree. Falls on exposed seafront and promenade surfaces are common across all three, because coastal paving deteriorates faster than inland paving under salt and winter storms.
Towns in this area
North Devon and the A39 Atlantic Highway
Barnstaple and Bideford
Two towns serving a wide rural hinterland on a single carriageway trunk road, where farming and food production meet the county's busiest freight route.
Barnstaple and Bideford are the two main towns of north Devon, and their claim profile is shaped by two things. The first is that there is no motorway anywhere in this part of the county, so a very heavy volume of traffic, including freight and agricultural vehicles, is funnelled onto the A39 Atlantic Highway, a single carriageway route that passes through both towns. Barnstaple's bridge over the Taw and Bideford's long bridge over the Torridge are genuine bottlenecks, and because the towns serve a wide rural area, a large share of local claims involve people who were travelling in from a distance. The second is that the surrounding area is genuinely agricultural, and both towns support substantial food production, light industry and engineering. That means local workplace claims range from agricultural machinery and livestock injuries on the surrounding farms to production and manual handling injuries in the food and industrial businesses, and both types turn heavily on what equipment was provided, how it was maintained and what training was given.
Towns in this area
Mid Devon and the road to the moor
Tiverton
Where the M5 meets north Devon, with a manufacturing and distribution base that produces machinery, production and depot claims.
Tiverton sits in mid Devon where the Exe and the Lowman meet, and it is the county's clearest example of a town whose claim profile is industrial rather than coastal. It has maintained a substantial manufacturing, engineering and distribution sector, and its position between the M5 at junction 27 and the route north toward Barnstaple makes it a distribution point for a wide area. Local workplace claims therefore involve machinery guarding, maintenance and production risks far more often than the retail and hospitality claims that dominate in the resorts, and vehicle movement and loading injuries in depots and yards are a regular feature. Tiverton is also a genuinely historic town, with older paving, narrow footways and changes of level around its centre and beside the Exe, which produce the familiar falls on ageing surfaces.
Town in this area
Who we help in Devon
The claimants we act for most often in this county, with the page that explains each in more detail.
All the Devon towns we cover
Each page below covers the local accident mix, the roads and the connections that shape it, and how a claim works in that area. Every one includes a map of the area covered.
The Devon area we cover
We help clients across the whole of Devon. The map below shows the county, and you can open it in Google Maps to explore the towns and roads mentioned on this page.
We help clients in Devon. We do not have a physical office in Devon and we do not claim to. Our registered address is Unit 16, Titan Court, Laporte Way, Luton, England, LU4 8EF.
Where to find out more
Frequently asked questions about personal injury claims in Devon
Do you have an office in Devon?
No. We do not have a physical office anywhere in Devon, and we do not claim to. Injury Law Specialists is a marketing and advertising platform rather than a law firm, and our registered address is in Luton. We provide access to personal injury solicitors who act for clients across the whole county, and cases are handled by telephone, email, WhatsApp and video call. Where a meeting is genuinely needed, a client can be seen at a convenient location rather than being asked to travel to us.
How long do I have to make a personal injury claim in Devon?
For many claims the general limitation period is three years from the date of the accident, or from your later date of knowledge where that applies. Different rules can apply to children, to people who lack mental capacity, and to fatal accident and criminal injury claims. Because evidence is easier to gather early and CCTV in particular can be overwritten quickly, it is worth taking advice well before any deadline feels close.
Can I claim if I was injured working in the dockyard in Plymouth?
Yes, where the injury was caused by unsafe working conditions, inadequate training, defective equipment, a failure to control lifting or working at height, or a failure to provide a safe system of work. Plymouth has one of the largest concentrations of dockyard and marine engineering work in the country, and claims from that sector commonly involve heavy machinery, confined spaces, lifting operations and vessels. Where several contractors and agencies share a site, establishing who controlled the particular area or task is a necessary first step, and the employer's risk assessments and safe systems of work usually become the central evidence.
Can I claim if I was injured working on a farm in Devon?
Yes, where the injury was caused by unsafe working conditions, defective equipment, inadequate training or a failure to provide a safe system of work. Devon is a genuinely agricultural county with dairy, livestock and mixed farming, and farms involve machinery, livestock and uneven ground, so those are the kinds of injury that arise. If you are self employed or a contractor rather than an employee, different insurance arrangements may apply and your position needs to be looked at separately. It is worth taking advice even if you are unsure how you were engaged.
Can I claim for a fall on a promenade, sea wall or slipway in Devon?
Yes, where the council, harbour authority or occupier failed to maintain the surface to a reasonable standard, failed to provide a handrail where one was reasonably required, or failed to deal with a known hazard, and that caused your fall. Devon's frontages are exposed to salt, storms and tidal water, and surfaces there deteriorate faster than inland paving. In Torquay's case the steep hills and steps are a significant factor, and in Exmouth the tidal estuary means surfaces around the docks and slipways change with the water. Photographs showing the specific defect with something for scale, and a precise note of the location, date and tide, are the most valuable evidence.
How much compensation could I receive for an injury in Devon?
There is no figure that can be applied to an injury by name, and anyone offering one without seeing your medical evidence is guessing. Compensation has two parts: general damages for the pain, suffering and loss of amenity the injury itself has caused, and special damages for the financial losses it has produced, such as lost earnings, treatment, rehabilitation, care and travel. The total depends on the medical evidence, the effect on your life, your age and circumstances and the losses you have suffered. Our page on personal injury compensation explains how both parts are assessed in more detail.
Can I claim if the other driver was uninsured or I could not identify them?
It may still be possible. Where the driver responsible was uninsured, or where the accident was a hit and run and the driver cannot be traced, a claim can often be pursued through the Motor Insurers' Bureau, which exists specifically to deal with those situations. The rules and the evidence required differ from an ordinary claim against an identified insurer, and there are particular requirements for reporting to the police in untraced driver cases. This comes up more often on Devon's trunk roads than people expect, so it is worth asking about.
Will I have to attend court in Devon?
Most personal injury claims settle through negotiation without any hearing, so attending court is uncommon. Where proceedings are issued, the case is usually dealt with at a court convenient for where you live, and Devon has combined court centres at Exeter, Plymouth, Torquay and Barnstaple, with county courts at Newton Abbot, Tiverton and Bideford. Where a hearing is needed, we explain what is involved and what to expect well in advance.
What evidence should I keep after an accident in Devon?
Keep anything that records what happened and what it cost you, and gather it early. Photographs of the scene, the defect, the machinery or the vehicles, details of any witnesses, the police reference if one was given, dash camera footage where you have it, medical records, receipts for treatment and travel, and a note of the days you could not work are all useful. Report a workplace accident in the accident book immediately and ask for a copy of the entry. CCTV and dash camera footage is the single most time sensitive item, because many systems overwrite it within days rather than weeks.
Can I claim on a No Win No Fee basis in Devon?
Suitable cases may be accepted under a Conditional Fee Agreement, commonly called No Win No Fee, subject to an assessment of liability, the evidence, the prospects of success and proportionality. If the claim does not succeed you generally do not pay our basic legal fees, and if it does a success fee may be payable. In many personal injury claims the applicable legal cap is 25% of the relevant categories of damages including VAT, although the actual deduction and funding arrangements depend on the agreement and your circumstances. These terms are explained in full before you decide whether to proceed.
Who provides the legal services?
Injury Law Specialists is a marketing and advertising platform and is not a law firm or a provider of regulated legal services. All personal injury legal advice, casework and representation arranged through Injury Law Specialists are provided by MB Solicitors, a trading name of MB Legal Solicitors Ltd, regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority under SRA ID 8000764.
Not sure whether you have a personal injury claim in Devon?
You do not need to understand the law before contacting us, and you do not need to travel. Tell us briefly what happened and a member of our team can review the information and explain the possible next steps. There is no charge for an initial assessment and no obligation to proceed.
Free initial assessment. No Win No Fee may be available, subject to assessment.