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Electric scooters, also known as e-scooters, are becoming increasingly common on our roads. Their size, cost, and convenience as a means of light, motorised transportation means that they are often used on paths and pavements too.
Accidents involving e-scooters are a rising cause of death and serious injury for their riders, other road users and pedestrians. In the UK, in 2021 alone, e-scooter accidents caused over 900 casualties. 40% of those involved head injury and other serious injuries, and 12 resulted in death.
Where someone is injured or killed in an e-scooter accident, as a result of the negligence of the rider or someone else, such as another driver, the injured person or their bereaved family may be entitled to compensation.
Speak to our personal injury solicitors
It costs nothing to talk to us to find out about making an e-scooter accident compensation claim for yourself or a member of your family. You can contact us by telephone or by email for free, confidential advice from a specialist personal injury solicitor. In serious injury cases, we often visit our clients in the hospital or at their home if they are unable to get to our offices.
We will ask you to tell us briefly about the accident and injury. We will advise you about your time limits and whether we can help you make a claim. Your solicitor will discuss with you how your claim will be funded and advise, fully and clearly, how that works and what it will mean for you. We offer a range of funding options, but most of our clients’ claims are handled on a ‘no win no fee’ basis.
We will put your claim to the defendant individual or organisation whose negligence caused your injury and we will handle all communication on your behalf. The defendant’s insurers will usually handle the claim on the defendant’s behalf and will be responsible for paying any compensation. Once we are in contact with the defendant’s insurers, we can begin to secure the necessary rehabilitation and specialist support to meet the injured person’s immediate needs whilst we proceed with the claim.
Partner, Personal Injury
Sep 2021
Aug 2021
I came to Boyes Turner desperate after searching the web for a firm to use for my sons case. He was only a few months so my mind was all over the place, but from the very first point of contact I felt a sense of relieve and belonging. I was welcomed and looked after by amazing staff who always communicated everything so well and went the extra mile to explain things and ensure I understood what was happening every step of the way (THANK YOU SUSAN BROWN). Susan was amazing I felt like I not only had a solicitor but someone who understood my emotions as a mother and always handled me with so much compassion and that was all I needed to keep me going for the 6 years of the case. Years went by in a breeze because of how professional Boyes Turner was. I am so grateful I went through it all with them and mananged to get my son a good compensation. We look forward our new life where my sons needs are priority after struggling for so long. Thank you Boyes Turner and thank you Susan Brown. My family and I are ever indebted.
I’ve been very lucky to have Martin & Roshni collaborate to help me when I needed a solicitor to takeover from a very horrible accident. They both are very caring, professional and succeeded getting the best outcome in my case. This is the second time in using this solicitor’s firm and always the same high standard service.
E-scooters are classified as motor vehicles and can only legally be used in public places through the various e-scooter rental schemes currently being trialled in various locations across the UK. Under the current law, it is illegal to use a privately owned e-scooter on any road, pavement, path, park, or other public space. Most of the e-scooters on our roads are therefore unregulated and uninsured. Unlawful use of a private e-scooter can lead to fines and other penalties from criminal prosecution.
As e-scooters have become more common as a means of transport, increasing numbers of e-scooter riders, passengers, pedestrians, and other road users have been seriously injured or killed in accidents and collisions involving e-scooters. Where an e-scooter rider is seriously injured as a result of another driver’s negligence, or an e-scooter causes serious injury to another road user, such as a pedestrian, cyclist or motorcyclist, the injured person may be entitled to make a claim for compensation.
Claims involving e-scooters are complex and should be handled by specialist solicitors to ensure that, whatever the circumstances, the injured person obtains their full entitlement to compensation.
If you have suffered serious injury in an e-scooter accident that was wholly or partly caused by someone else’s negligence, you may be entitled to substantial compensation.
We can obtain injury compensation for:
E-scooter accident claims require specialist solicitors who can advise you about how complex issues, such as uninsured riders, accidents with multiple causes and severe or life-changing injuries affect your claim. We recommend that you contact our experienced personal injury claims solicitors who will be happy to advise you, free and confidentially, about your own entitlement to compensation.
Research by PACTS and The Road Safety Trust, based on reported casualties from accidents involving e-scooters in 2021, identified that e-scooter accidents often result in head, facial and severe or fatal injuries. E-scooter riders are at higher risk of severe injuries in road accidents or collisions owing to a combination of the rider’s upright position and the e-scooter’s design, which affects its stability when it meets changes in the road surface and when accelerating or braking.
Our specialist head injury and major trauma solicitors have helped countless clients obtain funded rehabilitation and compensation after road accidents have caused:
E-scooters can legally be rented, or sold and bought in the UK. Currently, they can only be used legally in a few specified ways. Different rules apply for e-scooters used under approved trial rental e-scooter schemes or for privately owned e-scooters.
E-scooters are classed as motor vehicles, like cars, motorbikes and vans, and are subject to the same rules of the road and criminal penalties when those rules are broken. In practise, these rules mean that the only e-scooters which can legally be used on public roads are rental scheme e-scooters. The legal use of rental scheme e-scooters is strictly regulated and restricted to specific places.
Private e-scooters can only legally be used on private land, and the rider must have the permission of the land-owner.
Read more about the rules relating to e-scooters in our article: Are electric scooters legal in the UK?
If someone is injured whilst riding an e-scooter as a result of another driver’s negligence, the driver’s motor insurance company are responsible for paying compensation to anyone who was injured by their driver’s negligence.
If someone is injured whilst riding an e-scooter as a result of negligence of the highway authority or council, similarly their insurers will be responsible for paying compensation in any personal injury claim.
If a pedestrian or other road user is injured as a result of a legally rented e-scooter rider’s negligence, the e-scooter rider’s rental motor insurers will be responsible for paying compensation for injuries caused by their insured rider’s negligence.
Until the law changes, private e-scooters cannot be insured. Pedestrians or other road users who were injured as a result of a private e-scooter rider’s negligence may still be able to claim compensation from the Motor Insurers’ Bureau (MIB).
Injury claims involving e-scooter accidents are complex. We advise each client on their right to claim compensation based on our assessment of the individual circumstances of their accident. Contact us here to talk to one of our experienced personal injury solicitors, free and confidentially, to find out more about how we can help you make a claim.
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Partner
Associate Solicitor
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