The issues
Minor Injuries – neck – whiplash type injury
The facts
The Claimant, a female student nurse (aged 29 at accident and 30 at trial) suffered whiplash injury to neck and blow to head in an RTA. She was immediately aware of pain in the right of her head and had headaches for several days. A short time after the accident she developed severe neck pain which radiated into her right shoulder. This pain remained severe for 4 weeks before any improvement.
As a result of the injuries she was absent from college for 4 weeks. She then returned because she was worried about the amount of study that she was missing.
About 7 weeks after the accident her financial circumstances meant she had to return to her part time bar job in the local theatre. Both her return to college and to this job aggravated her symptoms.
Three months after the accident, she was still complaining of moderate neck symptoms on a daily basis. She was noted as having 25-35% reduction in normal neck movement. She had achieved full recovery in 12 months.
In addition to the whiplash, she had suffered shock in the accident and was generally anxious when driving and travelling in a car for many weeks. When she returned to driving she remained excessively nervous – it took 15 months for her confidence to fully return.
The decision
The Claimant was awarded £3,000.00 General Damages