Compensation for boating accidents might be necessary if you’ve been injured on a boat through no fault of your own. Whether you were on holiday, boating in the UK or working on a boat, our personal injury solicitors may be able to help. In this guide on boating accident claims, we’ll consider the types of accidents and injuries you could claim for and explain the claims process. We’ll also look at how much compensation for boating injuries could be awarded.

Our expert advisors can help if you’d like to know more about your options. Firstly, they’ll discuss what happened in detail with you and then they’ll offer free legal advice about your potential next steps. If there’s a reasonable chance you’ll receive compensation, one of our specialist solicitors may agree to help. Importantly, you won’t need to pay any legal fees as your claim will be conducted on a No Win No Fee basis.

To find out more about boating accident compensation claims, please read on. Alternatively, call 0800 6524 881 to speak to a specialist right away.

Am I Eligible To Make A Boating Accident Claim?

Whether you’ve been injured on a boat in the UK or foreign waters, the principles for claiming compensation are the same. You’ll need to prove that:

• You were owed a duty of care by the defendant; and
• Their negligence led to an accident on or involving a boat; and
• You were made ill or sustained an injury because of that accident.

Our solicitors don’t want to waste your time so they’ll only accept claims where all three criteria are met and where they suspect that you should be compensated for your injuries.

Can I Claim For Being Injured While Working On A Boat?

If you are a fisherman or work on a boat in another capacity, your employer owes you a legal duty of care to try and keep the boat (your workplace) as safe as possible. Failure to do so could mean they have been negligent and you might be eligible to claim for any subsequent injuries.

For example, you might be able to make a boating accident claim if you were injured because of:

• Inadequate safety training.
• Missing or unsuitable Personal Protective Equipment (PPE).
• Poorly maintained or damaged lifeboats or other equipment.
• Accidents caused by tiredness because you’d worked too many hours.
• Failure to check weather conditions (or carry out other risk assessments) before travelling.

Whether you work on a small crew or on a cruise ship, the same laws apply. If your accident was caused by your employer’s negligence, you could be eligible to claim for your suffering.

Can I Claim For A Boating Accident Whilst On Holiday?

You are likely to be covered if you have a boating accident whilst on holiday. That means you could claim for injuries suffered on cruises, excursions or ferries used to island hop.

Whilst accidents at sea are covered by the Athens Convention, if you’re injured on an excursion booked as part of a package holiday abroad, UK laws will apply. In either case, our personal injury solicitors could help you to claim for any injuries so please get in touch.

Common Causes Of Boating Accident Claims

In theory, based on the criteria above, any type of boating accident caused by negligence could mean you’re eligible to begin a personal injury claim. Some of the most common boating-related claims are based on:

• Where a boat collides with a dock or another boat.
• Injuries caused by inadequate safety provisions (including life jackets).
• Being struck by a boat whilst in a designated swimming area.
• Accidents caused by poorly maintained, damaged or faulty boats.
• Accidents while using jet skis as part of a boating trip.
• Food poisoning on cruise ships.
• Being hit by falling objects in rough waters.
• Slips on deck because of excessively wet conditions.

Whether you’ve been injured at sea, on a river or on a reservoir, we could help you to claim for your injuries. Therefore, please get in touch and ask us to review your claim for free.

Common Boating Injuries

Some examples of injuries sustained in boating accidents that could lead to personal injury claims include:

Please let us know about your injury even if it’s not listed here. A specialist from our team will review everything for you and work out whether you could be entitled to compensation.

How Much Compensation For A Boating Accident?

As part of your boating accident claim, you’ll need to see an independent medical expert so that the severity of any injuries can be assessed. The specialist will discuss how your injuries have impacted you and then they’ll produce a report that your solicitor will use to help work out how much compensation you may be entitled to. Before then, you can use our compensation calculator to get an idea of how much some boating injuries could be awarded:

On top of any physical pain, discomfort and suffering, you may also be able to secure compensation to cover any:

• Distress, anxiety or other forms of mental suffering.
• Personal property damage.
• Care costs if somebody else needed to look after you.
• Travel costs and repatriation expenses.
• Loss of enjoyment of a holiday or any normal activities because of your injuries.
• Medical expenses (private hospital treatment, physiotherapy etc).
• Lost earnings. Future losses might also be included for longer-term injuries.
• Changes to your home needed to make it more accessible if you’ve been left disabled.

These costs must be worked out before you file your boating accident claim as you can’t make additional claims after your first has been settled. Therefore, your solicitor will try to make sure they fully understand the impact of your boating accident before they file your claim.

Evidence To Support A Boating Accident Claim

When your claim is filed with the operator of the boat, they’ll pass it on to their insurance provider. Your solicitor will therefore need to prove to the insurer that their client caused your boating accident and subsequent suffering. This will require evidence that might include:

• Accident reports from the Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) for UK accidents or an onboard accident report form.
• Medical records and x-rays from a hospital to explain the seriousness of your boating injuries.
• Witness statements from others who can explain how the accident occurred.
• Mobile phone or CCTV footage if your boating accident was caught on camera.
• Any photographs you took after your accident that can clarify its cause. Also, pictures of any visible injuries can be helpful evidence too.

If you want to claim back any expenses linked to your injuries you should also provide financial evidence like bank statements and receipts.

Whether you’ve got all of the evidence listed above or not, please contact us and we’ll review your case for free. If a boating accident claim is taken on, where possible your solicitor will help to secure any additional information needed.

Boating Accident Claim Time Limits

For UK personal injury claims, you’ll have 3 years to begin your boating accident claim generally starting from the date of your accident on the boat. However, it’s worth getting in touch to confirm this as some accidents on boats, ships and cruises are covered by international law and have a 2-year time limit.

Whichever law is relevant, you should allow plenty of time for evidence collection and medical assessments. Therefore, we’d suggest starting your claim as quickly as possible to avoid missing out on any compensation you’re entitled to.

The time limit for boating accident claims involving children will not commence until their 18^th birthday. Therefore, as a parent or guardian acting as a litigation friend, you could claim compensation before then so that your child doesn’t have to wait to be compensated.

Fatal Boating Accidents

Unfortunately, being struck by a boat, capsizing or falling overboard will sometimes result in the loss of loved ones. While we realise that being awarded compensation for accidental death won’t make it any easier to deal with your loss, we’re here to help if you decide to claim. Our solicitors could help you to claim back funeral costs and other costs and you could also be awarded damages if you were financially dependent on the deceased’s income.

If your loss was caused by somebody else’s negligence and you’d like us to help you claim, please call and speak with one of our friendly and compassionate advisors.

Starting The Boating Accident Claims Process

The easiest way to find out if you might be entitled to claim compensation for a boating accident is to call us on 0800 6524 881 today. By doing so, you’ll receive free legal advice about claiming as part of a no-obligation consultation.

You’re free to use the information we provide as you wish but if your claim is strong enough, we could put you in touch with a personal injury solicitor from our team. If they agree to work for you, they’ll do so on a No Win No Fee basis.

We can answer any further questions you might have on the boating accident claims process if you call us or use our online chat service.