Personal injury solicitors for clients throughout England & Wales
England & Wales
If you were struck or injured by a vehicle, or hurt because of a defect in the road or pavement, you may be entitled to compensation for your injuries and the losses that follow. Injury Law Specialists is a personal injury law firm acting for pedestrians throughout England and Wales, and our solicitors can assess your circumstances and explain whether you have grounds to claim.
Pedestrians have no protection at all in a collision, and injuries are often serious. We have a particular interest in pedestrian cases involving surgery, lasting symptoms or significant financial loss, and we take on straightforward claims just as readily.
Yes. A pedestrian struck by a vehicle can usually claim compensation for their injuries and financial losses, provided the driver was at fault or shared responsibility. Drivers owe pedestrians a high duty of care, and the courts generally expect a driver to have been able to see and avoid someone in the road. Injury Law Specialists offers pedestrians a free claim assessment so the position can be looked at before you commit to anything.
There is a useful point about how pedestrians are treated in law. Because a person on foot has nothing to protect them, the law places a correspondingly heavier responsibility on the driver. That does not mean fault is automatically admitted, and insurers will still look for arguments. It does mean the starting position is a reasonable one, provided the evidence supports how the collision happened.
It is also worth separating two quite different kinds of pedestrian claim. One is a collision with a vehicle. The other is a fall or injury caused by the state of the road or pavement itself, such as a pothole, broken kerb or raised paving slab. The second type is usually brought against whoever is responsible for maintaining that surface rather than a driver, and we deal with both.
The circumstances change who the claim is brought against and what evidence tends to decide it. These are the situations we deal with most often.
Whether at a marked crossing, a junction or an unmarked stretch of road, what matters is whether the driver should have seen you in time. Insurers sometimes argue that a pedestrian stepped out without looking, which is why the position of the vehicle, the sightlines and any brake marks become important.
Being struck on a pavement is a particularly strong kind of claim, because a pedestrian on the pavement has done nothing wrong at all. Causes include a vehicle mounting the kerb, a driver losing control, or a vehicle emerging from a driveway or forecourt without looking.
A door opened into the path of a pedestrian can cause a serious fall onto a hard surface. The driver or passenger opening the door carries the responsibility, and the Highway Code expects them to look before doing so. The same principle applies to doors opened into the path of cyclists.
Potholes, raised or broken paving, missing covers and uneven kerbs cause a great many pedestrian injuries every year. These claims are brought against the body responsible for maintaining the surface, usually the local authority, and turn on the size and nature of the defect and how long it had been there.
Car parks bring vehicles and pedestrians into close contact with poor sightlines and reversing manoeuvres. Responsibility can rest with a driver, with the operator of the car park for its layout and signage, or with both, so it is worth looking at the whole picture rather than assuming there is only one target.
Where a driver failed to stop, a claim through the Motor Insurers' Bureau may still be possible. These are sometimes helped by CCTV from nearby premises, dashcam footage from other vehicles or phone evidence from witnesses, so it is worth trying to secure that material quickly.
Pedestrians ask this more than any other group, usually because they are worried they did something careless. It does not end the claim. Where both sides contributed to the accident, compensation is reduced by your share of responsibility rather than refused altogether.
So if responsibility were split 75% to the driver and 25% to you, you would recover 75% of the value of the claim. What that split should be is often contested, and an insurer will push for a larger reduction than the evidence justifies if nobody argues the point. This is one of the clearest places where having a solicitor acting for you changes the outcome.
Wearing dark clothing at night, or crossing away from a crossing, may be raised by the other side. Neither automatically means you were at fault, and both are matters of degree rather than absolutes.
Suitable personal injury cases may be accepted under a Conditional Fee Agreement, commonly called a No Win, No Fee agreement. Acceptance depends on an assessment of liability, evidence, prospects of success and the funding arrangements available.
If the claim succeeds, a success fee may be payable. The amount and how it is calculated is explained before you decide whether to proceed, so there is no uncertainty about the position later.
How No Win, No Fee worksPedestrian cases often turn on reconstructing what happened in a matter of seconds. The evidence available in the days afterwards frequently decides how the claim is resolved.
The police report
The collision report and reference number, along with what the driver told officers at the scene and any witness statements taken.
CCTV and dashcam footage
From nearby shops, bus cameras, doorbells or other vehicles. This material is often overwritten within weeks, so it pays to ask quickly.
The location itself
Photographs of the road layout, crossings, sightlines, lighting, road markings and anything obstructing a driver's view.
Medical records
Ambulance and A&E records, GP notes, imaging and a report from an independent medical expert on the injuries and prognosis.
Defect evidence
For pavement claims, measurements and photographs of the defect, together with evidence of how long it had been in that condition.
Records of loss
Payslips or accounts showing time off work, plus receipts for treatment, travel, care and any equipment or adaptions.
Not all of this will exist in every case, and you should not worry if you have none of it. Tell your solicitor what you do have, and they can work out what else can be obtained, including from the driver's insurer.
Compensation is usually split between the injury itself and the financial consequences of the accident. The two are assessed separately.
Pain, suffering and effect on life
The injury itself, how severe it is, how long it lasts and how it affects work, sleep, mobility and day to day life.
Loss of earnings
Pay already lost through time off work, and future loss where the injury affects what you are able to earn.
Treatment and rehabilitation
Physiotherapy, private treatment, surgery and rehabilitation where these are needed and evidenced.
Care and assistance
Help with household tasks, shopping, gardening or personal care that you could manage before but cannot now.
Travel and related costs
The cost of travelling to treatment and appointments, along with other expenses the accident has caused.
Future expense
Aids, equipment, adaptions and other costs likely to arise in future, where they can be properly supported.
Pedestrian claims often involve an argument about how the accident happened, which is precisely the work a solicitor is there to do.
Establishes who was at fault
Your solicitor reconstructs how the collision happened, gathers the CCTV, witness and location evidence, and builds the case on responsibility, including where the other side denies it.
Obtains the medical evidence
An independent medical expert is instructed to examine you and report on the injury, its severity, your prognosis and any treatment still needed.
Quantifies the losses
Earnings, treatment, care, travel and future costs are calculated and supported with evidence, so that nothing recoverable is left out of the claim.
Deals with the insurer
Correspondence, negotiations and any arguments about liability or the level of compensation are handled for you, rather than landing on your doorstep.
Pursues the claim if needed
If a fair settlement cannot be agreed, court proceedings can be issued. Most claims settle long before a hearing, but the option is there when it is needed.
Keeps you informed
You should know where your claim stands at each significant stage. We aim to keep clients updated by whichever method of contact suits them.
If you would like to understand the process in more detail, our page on how our solicitors help sets out each stage from first enquiry to resolution.
Yes, and pedestrians have a strong starting position in law. Drivers owe pedestrians a high duty of care, and where a collision has occurred the courts start from the assumption that the driver should have been able to avoid it. What matters is showing how the collision happened and what injury and loss it caused.
You may still be able to claim. Pedestrians are not restricted to using crossings, and a driver is expected to take reasonable care to see and avoid people in the road. That said, if you stepped out without looking or crossed against a signal, the other side may argue for a reduction in your compensation. That argument is often resisted, and the evidence decides it.
If you contributed to what happened, your compensation is normally reduced to reflect your share of responsibility rather than refused. This is known as contributory negligence. So a 25% reduction means recovering 75% of the value of the claim. Where the split should fall is frequently disputed, which is one of the areas where having a solicitor acting for you changes the outcome.
A claim may still be possible through the Motor Insurers' Bureau, which exists to compensate victims of untraced and uninsured drivers. These claims operate under their own rules rather than the ordinary process. Where the driver did not stop, it is important to report the incident to the police within the required period, so take advice promptly.
Yes, and this is a different kind of claim. Pavement and highway defects are usually brought against the local authority or the occupier responsible for maintaining the surface, rather than a driver. These claims turn on the nature and size of the defect and how long it had been there, so evidence gathered early is valuable.
Compensation usually has two parts. The first covers the injury itself, including pain, suffering and the effect on your daily life. The second covers the financial losses the accident caused, such as lost earnings, treatment and rehabilitation, care and assistance, travel and, in serious cases, future losses where they can be evidenced.
For most personal injury claims in England and Wales, the limitation period is three years from the date of the accident, or from your later date of knowledge where that applies. Exceptions exist, including for children and for people who lack mental capacity to manage their own affairs. Early advice is always sensible.
Most pedestrian claims settle without anyone attending court. The work is usually done by correspondence and negotiation with the driver's insurer. Court proceedings are sometimes issued where liability is denied or a settlement cannot be agreed, but even then the majority of cases resolve before a hearing takes place.
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, legal services, casework, representation, legal support, and any free initial assessment or consultation promoted or arranged through Injury Law Specialists are provided by MB Solicitors, a trading name of MB Legal Solicitors Ltd.
MB Legal Solicitors Ltd is a company registered in England and Wales under Company Number 12281731. The firm is authorised and regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) under SRA ID 8000764 and is a member of The Law Society. Injury Law Specialists does not itself provide legal advice or carry out reserved legal activities. Any solicitor-client relationship arising from an enquiry will be directly between the client and MB Legal Solicitors Ltd.
Read our Regulatory InformationTell us what happened and a member of our team can review your circumstances and explain the possible next steps. The assessment is free, there is no obligation to instruct us, and you will be speaking to someone who deals with these claims regularly.
