Claims for Road Accidents Involving Emergency Vehicles

If you or your child has suffered injuries in a road accident involving an emergency vehicle, such as an ambulance, fire engine or police car, you may be eligible to make a road accident compensation claim.

All road users, including the drivers of emergency vehicles, have a duty of care to other users of the road. Although emergency vehicles must follow the same principles as other road users, the nature of their work means that under various circumstances they may need to ignore traffic signals or drive at high speeds.

If you or a loved one has suffered injuries caused by a collision with an emergency service vehicle, and the driver of this vehicle was at fault, you should be entitled to receive compensation.

As with other types of car accidents, you must be able to prove that the driver of the emergency vehicle was responsible for the accident and that this negligence caused the injuries you have suffered. This may require evidence such as witness statements, a police report, CCTV evidence, photographs and medical records.

It is important to note that road users also have a duty to pay attention to warning signals given by emergency vehicles. When sirens and other warning signals are displayed, road users must take appropriate action, such as giving way to the vehicle or pulling off to the side of the road. Sometimes, emergency vehicles have to ignore traffic signals or have to make unusual manoeuvres to answer an emergency call, and other road users must do what they reasonably can to allow them to do so.

This means that if a person has failed to take reasonable actions following warning sirens displayed by the emergency services, he or she may be held partially responsible for any accident that has taken place. In these circumstances you may still have a valid claim, but the amount of compensation you are entitled to receive may be reduced to take into account the level of your own fault. This is referred to as contributory negligence.

Find out if you can make a claim

Whether you suffered injuries as a driver, a passenger or a pedestrian, you may be entitled to make a road accident claim if it can be proven that someone else was responsible for the accident.

Road accidents involving emergency vehicles are not uncommon, but it is often difficult to prove liability. For this reason, it is important to speak to a solicitor as soon as possible following your accident.

Injury lawyers provide a free case assessment service, so you can find out within a matter of minutes if you have a valid claim. This service is provided without any obligation to proceed further. If your solicitor can help, they will be happy to do so on a 100% No Win No Fee basis.

To get started, call free on 0800 032 3660 or enter your details in the form below to receive a call back.