Are you a solicitor who has just been instructed by a client facing a serious road traffic offence following an accident? It is likely that at some point you will consider an examination of the vehicles involved but perhaps not at the very outset of the case. There are, however, real advantages to you and your client of examining the vehicles at the earliest possible stage. These are:
- The vehicles are likely to be available for examination. This is not always the case later in the process when all too often we find that vehicles have been released. The Police may give your client just 28 days to arrange the vehicle examination before storage charges are levied.
- The vehicles should be in a condition that is pretty much the same as the immediate post-accident state. We often find that when we examine vehicles later in the process, the vehicles have been moved around, for example from police compounds to insurers and/or released to owners, with possible loss or degradation of critical evidence. A timely examination removes concerns about what may have happened to the vehicles in the period between the accident and our examination.
- You can receive vital information from the vehicle examination enabling you to advise your client appropriately at a very early stage, with all the advantages that this brings to your client.
- You can control costs and decide to instruct us to simply undertake the vehicle examination and store our notes, or to prepare a short statement of the findings from the vehicle exam to aid you and your client in the preparation of the defence case. Should it be required at a later date when further information has been disclosed, our initial vehicle examination notes can be incorporated into a full report.
- An early vehicle examination can provide a more complete understanding of what is likely to have happened whereas an examination of the photographs of the vehicles may leave some questions unanswered.
In summary, you can secure the best information on the vehicles for you and your client at early stage for the modest cost of just an examination of the vehicles. In a recent case we are able to examine the vehicles within a month of the accident. If you would like further information, an estimate of costs or availability, please contact us on 0191 332 4999 or email kbc@keithborer.co.uk.
