Serving all of Scotland · Helping injured people since 1977
Airdrie 01236 756188 Dunfermline 01383 604110
Home  ›  Locations  ›  Edinburgh

Road Traffic Accident Claims in Edinburgh

Injured on Edinburgh’s roads in a collision that was not your fault? We act for drivers, passengers, motorcyclists, cyclists and pedestrians.

0800 073 0065 Free advice · no obligation
Start your claim

    No win, no fee. Free advice with no obligation.
    Established 1977 APIL accredited Headway UK corporate member No Win – No Fee Regulated by the Law Society of Scotland
    Do You Have A Claim?

    Three questions that usually decide it

    1

    Was someone else at fault?

    Another driver, an employer, an occupier or a manufacturer. Shared fault does not end a claim, it reduces it.

    2

    Was it in the last three years?

    Scotland allows three years from the accident, or from diagnosis for an industrial disease. Children have longer.

    3

    Did you need treatment?

    A GP or hospital record from the time is the single most useful piece of evidence in any claim.

    Covering Edinburgh

    Edinburgh’s roads, and the claims they produce

    Edinburgh combines a dense historic centre with a busy orbital bypass, trams sharing road space with cyclists, and a large pedestrian and tourist population. The collision profile reflects all of that.

    We act for anyone injured through another road user’s negligence, and where the driver is untraced or uninsured we pursue the claim through the Motor Insurers’ Bureau.

    Both specialist injury courts sit in Edinburgh, and our solicitors appear in them.

    How We Work In Edinburgh
    About 40 minutes
    from our Dunfermline office, if you would rather meet in person.
    Home and hospital visits anywhere in Edinburgh, at no cost
    Video consultation by Zoom or Microsoft Teams
    Most of what we need comes from a first phone call
    Handled by April Meechan and the Edinburgh team
    What We Handle

    Claims we take on in Edinburgh

    Accidents at work

    Unsafe equipment, manual handling, falls from height and inadequate training.

    Read more →

    Road traffic accidents

    Drivers, passengers, motorcyclists, cyclists and pedestrians.

    Read more →

    Serious injuries

    Head, brain and spinal injuries needing lifetime care and support.

    Read more →

    Slips, trips and falls

    Public places, shops, workplaces and defective pavements.

    Read more →

    Industrial disease

    Deafness, HAVS, dermatitis, asbestos and occupational asthma.

    Read more →

    No win – no fee

    We fund the claim. Nothing to pay unless we win it for you.

    Read more →
    Where Your Case Would Be Heard

    Where an Edinburgh road traffic claim is heard

    Most Edinburgh road traffic claims that need proceedings are raised in the All-Scotland Personal Injury Court, which sits in the city. The Court of Session at Parliament House takes the highest-value and most complex cases.

    The majority settle without any hearing once liability and medical evidence are established.

    Your Forum Options

    All-Scotland Personal Injury Court

    The specialist national court for injury actions, sitting in Edinburgh before judges who hear only injury cases.

    Court of Session

    Edinburgh, at Parliament House. For the highest-value and most complex claims, including catastrophic and fatal cases.

    Edinburgh Sheriff Court

    Chambers Street. The local forum for lower-value actions arising in the city and the Lothians.

    Local Risk

    Where collisions happen in Edinburgh

    Some patterns recur often enough here to be worth naming specifically.

    The A720 City Bypass

    Heavy commuter traffic and high-speed collisions around the Sheriffhall, Straiton and Hermiston junctions.

    Tram tracks and cyclists

    A recognised hazard where wheels catch in the rails. These claims turn on layout, signage, surface and maintenance.

    City-centre junctions

    Multi-lane one-way systems shared with buses, taxis and delivery vehicles, where turning collisions are common.

    Pedestrians and tourists

    Crossings and junctions in a city centre with very high footfall, including reversing and failure-to-give-way incidents.

    Motorcyclists

    Among the most seriously injured road users, frequently in vehicles turning across their path.

    Winter and gradients

    Steep streets and untreated surfaces that make loss of control markedly more likely in cold weather.

    Your Medical Records

    Where Edinburgh collision injuries are treated

    Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, Little France: major trauma centre for the east of Scotland
    Royal Hospital for Children and Young People: for injured children
    St John’s Hospital, Livingston: for parts of West Lothian
    Your own GP practice records, which show the ongoing effect
    Evidence

    How we gather your medical evidence

    Serious road trauma in Edinburgh is taken to the major trauma centre at the Royal Infirmary at Little France, with injured children treated at the Royal Hospital for Children and Young People on the same site.

    Alongside medical records we obtain the police report, dashcam or CCTV footage and vehicle damage evidence, all of which disappear quickly.

    For significant injuries we instruct an independent consultant to examine you privately at our cost.

    Who You Would Deal With

    Who would handle your claim

    Edinburgh road traffic claims are led by April Meechan in our Court of Session office.

    Julian Hanrahan

    Julian Hanrahan

    Associate Solicitor

    Manages our Dunfermline office. Graduate of the University of Glasgow and the Glasgow Graduate School of Law.

    View profile →
    Results & Reviews

    Our record

    A 99% success rate

    Across personal injury claims, built on preparing cases properly and being honest at the outset about the ones that will not succeed.

    Millions recovered

    We have helped thousands of injured people win millions of pounds in compensation, from minor slips to catastrophic injury.

    Referred by other solicitors

    Firms in Scotland and England send us their clients’ personal injury claims, which is the endorsement we value most.

    “From the very first phone call to the last they were friendly, courteous and very professional. What helped a great deal was the way they kept me informed.”

    Robert Rooney, Glasgow

    “They were so professional, courteous and diligent throughout the process. My compensation came through at the high end of my expectations.”

    Verified client review
    How Claiming Works In Scotland

    Scotland has its own rules and timeframes

    Scots law differs from the rest of the UK in ways that matter to your claim, which is why a Scottish solicitor is worth having.

    Three-year limitation

    Most claims must be raised within three years of the accident, or from the date you knew an illness was work-related. Miss it and the claim is usually lost.

    Pre-action protocol

    Scotland operates a voluntary pre-action protocol for personal injury. It sets out timescales for insurers to investigate and respond before court is needed.

    No win – no fee

    We fund the cost of running your claim. If we do not win you pay nothing, and any success fee is capped and agreed with you in writing first.

    Questions

    Frequently asked questions

    I came off my bike on the tram tracks. Do I have a claim?

    Possibly. These claims depend on the road layout, signage, surface condition and maintenance at the location, and on how the design managed the conflict between cyclists and rails. They are fact-specific, so it is worth having the circumstances reviewed rather than assuming there is nothing to claim.

    My accident was on the City Bypass.

    Get medical attention, ensure the police have a record and preserve any dashcam footage. Bypass collisions involve higher speeds and frequently disputed liability, so early evidence-gathering matters a great deal.

    The driver had no insurance.

    We pursue the claim through the Motor Insurers’ Bureau, which compensates people injured by uninsured or untraced drivers. It has its own notification requirements and timescales, so get advice quickly.

    I was a passenger in a friend’s car.

    You claim against whichever driver was at fault, which may be the driver of the car you were in. The claim is met by their insurer rather than by them personally, which is usually the reassurance people need.

    Is whiplash worth claiming for in Scotland?

    Yes. Scotland did not adopt the fixed whiplash tariff used in England and Wales, so Scottish claims are valued on their individual merits by reference to judicial guidelines and case law.

    How long do I have?

    Generally three years from the date of the accident. Children have until their twenty-first birthday. Evidence degrades quickly, so earlier is always better.

    We also cover, near Edinburgh

    All locations →
    Start Your Claim Today

    Injured in an accident? Please do not delay.

    Call our accident injury lawyers now, for free, on 0800 163 978 or complete a Free Online Claim Enquiry and we will soon be in touch.

    0800 163 978 Free Online Claim Enquiry →

    Start your claim

    Free advice, no obligation. Tell us briefly what happened and we’ll come back to you.

      Prefer to talk? Call 0800 163 978