Whiplash compensation claim news
20/04/2007

Actor seeks further damages after hit-and-run accident

A 40-year-old actor from West Sussex who has worked with some of the leading theatre companies in Britain is suing the government for more than £600,000 in damages - including whiplash compensation - after receiving serious personal injuries in a hit-and-run car accident. The hit-and-run driver who collided with the actor's motorbike has never been traced.

The man has already received £585,000 in compensation from the Motor Insurer's Bureau, a body that acts in cases involving uninsured or untraced drivers.

Speaking to the BBC, the actor said, "I was in a coma for a couple of weeks and woke up in St Thomas's hospital with full spinal whiplash."

He argues that he would have received £605,000 more in whiplash compensation, brain trauma compensation, and spinal injury compensation if a European directive on motor insurance had been implemented into British law. It is also believed that compensation for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a factor in his claim for a bolstered sum.

In addition to the compensation claim for £605,000 he is also claiming £350,000 in interest and legal costs.

The importance of whiplash compensation is sometimes overlooked by a public that often do not understand how serious the impact of a whiplash injury can be.