Road traffic accident news
22/03/2011

Car crash compensation pays for carers

A 20-year-old woman, who suffered severe personal injuries in a road traffic accident in Swanmore, Hampshire, in 2007, has now received car crash compensation.

The accident occurred when the vehicle in which she was a passenger collided with an 18 tonne lorry.

The young girl suffered a fractured skull and serious internal injuries, and remained in a coma for six months. Her family was told that she was unlikely to ever regain consciousness, and that if she did it was probable that she would be left in a vegetative state.

However, she surprised the medical staff by waking and slowly regaining her mental capabilities, and has been looked after at a rehabilitation centre in Dorset ever since leaving hospital.

The victim has now recovered to a point where she can communicate with people around her, but she needs round-the-clock care and her life-changing injuries mean that she will never have the quality of life that she had prior to the car accident.

So far the court has awarded the young woman and her family an interim payment of £1.35 million, but the total settlement, including the recent payment, is estimated to reach somewhere in the region of £900,000.

The money will go towards adapting a home and vehicle for the woman's special requirements, and employing two full-time carers to help her family tend to her needs.

The car crash compensation pay-out will mean that the woman can now return to live with her family instead of staying at the rehabilitation centre. The victim's father said, "The overall objective of the family was always to bring her home. That's what we always wanted – to get her safely home."