Can you claim for injuries when a car is used as a weapon?

Motor vehicles are dangerous machines. Everyday there are road traffic collisions in which drivers, passengers, motorcyclists, cyclists and pedestrians suffer injury.

In almost all those cases, the driver of the motor vehicle did not intend to cause injury.

The driver might have been tired, not concentrating, drunk, on drugs, distracted by their phone or in some other way negligent.

In some cases, drivers deliberately take risks, such as driving at reckless speeds in built up areas. The person may not have intended to injure anyone, but they knowingly took the risk – they simply did not give any thought to the risk they might crash or did but did not care.

In all these cases described above, the insurer of the driver who caused the accident must compensate the victim and if there was no insurance at all, the Motor Insurers Bureau pay.

There is nothing unusual in compensation being paid for injuries in these circumstances.

However, what about the situation where a driver uses a vehicle to deliberately cause injury by using a motor vehicle as a weapon? Can the victim claim compensation in these circumstances?

Levenes Solicitors have been involved in a few cases where this has happened, some of them high profile.

In on the recent cases, a driver with severe mental health problems drove a car on to the pavement and struck a group of adults and children close to a school just after the end of the school day. Several people were injured and sadly a child was killed. Levenes acted for a classroom assistant who suffered a broken leg and PTSD in this incident. The driver was convicted of manslaughter because of the death of the child who died.

It might be said that you cannot insure yourself against liability for causing someone injury deliberately, and this is true, but the law also provides that those who suffer injury caused by a motor vehicle should be compensated and this is overriding.

What if the driver stole the car and caused the accident and injury?

The overriding principle that the victim of the misuse of a motor vehicle should be compensated is such that even if the car was stolen by the driver, the insurers of the stolen car must pay compensation.

This was illustrated by another recent case arising from the 2023 Nottingham attacks, when Valdo Calocane fatally stabbed 2 university students before also fatally stabbing a school caretaker. Please click here to read media reports about this attack. He then stole the school caretaker’s van and used it as a weapon, causing injury to 3 people including one man whom Levenes Solicitors represented. Calocane was charged with 3 counts of murder and 3 of attempted murder but controversially, was convicted of manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility.

The claims of the victims are dealt with in different ways. Where the attacker uses a knife, this is a crime of violence and comes within the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority scheme.

The victims whose injuries were caused by impact from the stolen van, are also victims of crimes of violence but their claims can be dealt with by the van insurers, even though Calocane had no permission to use the van and did not have insurance to drive it.

Some might say that this is an anomaly, but this is the law as it stands provided that the vehicle used as a weapon was on the highway, not on private land when it was used to cause injuries.

Accident compensation claims

Seeking the expert advice of a specialist road collision lawyer can be crucial in ensuring that your claim goes smoothly and that you get the support you need to recover from your injuries.

You can trust in the experience and knowledge of our team of professional injury lawyers to ensure that you receive the maximum amount of compensation that you are entitled to.

Get in touch today and find out within 1 hour if you have a claim. Call us on 0800 048 2355 or request a call back now.