New year celebrations bring threat of compensation claims

Just as Christmas brings the threat of product liability claims resulting from faulty fairy lights and computerised toys, as well as car accident claims resulting from drink-drivers and icy road conditions, New Year celebrations can be just as hazardous and lead to compensation claims aplenty.

Each and every year on the 31st December, 80,000 Londoners flood the streets and gather to hear Big Ben's chimes and watch the fabulous Millennium Wheel fireworks display at the stroke of midnight. Brits across the land flock to pubs, clubs and dinner dances to down a few bevies, strut their funky stuff and see the New Year in with style. But when it comes to New Year fun and frolics there are of course serious risks of personal injuries being sustained.

A lethal cocktail
Around Christmas and New Year more gallons of alcohol are consumed than at any other time, making the potential for drunken accidents far more likely. Drink and drugs are a lethal combination in any instance but when coupled with New Year's celebrations personal injury is far more likely.

According to a survey carried out by www.talktofrank.com, 43% of those planning to take drugs on New Years Eve intend to mix different drugs with alcohol. This is quite literally an accident waiting to happen. When we drink our reactions become slower and we lose our inhibitions and some drugs can cause our concentration to wander, decrease our sense of judgement, increase aggressive behaviour and cause our bodies to go into overdrive.

Mike Ryan, regional manager of the drugs strategy team in Government Office North West and a member of the North West Safety nightlife group, said, "Taking any drug is a health risk. When you mix more than one type of drug and drink alcohol you are increasing the risk and making the effects more unpredictable."

As well as the effect drugs and alcohol can have on your body this lethal combination can also put you in real danger of sustaining personal injury. Professor Mark Bellis of the Centre for Public Health, Liverpool John Moores University, commented, "The best recipe for a happy New Year is to avoid mixing drugs and alcohol. Remember that drugs do not just affect health in the long term. Using drugs and alcohol leaves you disorientated and vulnerable to assault, more likely to have accidents and can end up with a night or more in hospital or a police cell."

Sounds dangerous
No New Year's party is complete without a decent sound system pumping out cheesy tune after cheesy tune. But the average party goer is unlikely to consider the damage that going to a night club can actually have on their health. Have you ever woken up with a ringing sensation in your ears after a big night out? Yes? This is probably due to the fact that the music played at such venues is far too loud.

In recent years accident at work compensation claims have hit the headlines after bar and nightclub workers have started to pursue claims for industrial deafness. Noise-induced hearing loss can be gradual but regular exposure to loud music, whether you are at work or play, could have a substantial impact on your hearing. If music is being played at a louder volume than is recommended by the health and safety authorities then you could be in a position to also make a personal injury compensation claim.

New Year nightmare
We spoke to 26-year-old Sian from Cardiff who made a compensation claim after being hit by a drink-driver on New Year's Eve 2004. Sian spoke to The Claim Solicitors and told us she had been to a few pubs with friends and had then moved onto a local nightclub.

Sian also told us how she had not had a drop to drink all night as she didn't like the taste of alcohol and she didn't mind doing her friends the favour of being designated driver. After parking her car behind the club she went to cross the road to the club's entrance. She remembered looking both ways before crossing the road but a car came from nowhere and knocked her over.

Witnesses told how the car accident was clearly caused by a reckless driver who was likely to have had too much to drink as the car came whizzing round a corner and swerved all over the road before hitting Sian.

Fortunately the car accident was not fatal and although Sian sustained a broken leg and a minor head injury she managed to see in the New Year, albeit in a hospital bed.

Compensation claim for the New Year
Every year we make vows to quit smoking and cut down on the drinking encouraged by increasingly fear-invoking advertising warnings of lung cancer and liver disease. But it seems that as soon as we turn the corner into February, concern for our general health seems to take a downwards spiral and we start on that slippery slope towards illness and personal injury.

If you are thinking of going out and letting your hair down this New Year's then just think very carefully about your actions as you don't want to start the New Year off with a serious personal injury for which you have to make a compensation claim.

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