OUTCOMESTHAT CHANGELIVES.
Three cases. Three riders. Three different fights — and three settlements that did the job they were meant to do. Names changed where the client asked. Figures and facts as recorded.
The driver was untraced.We didn't accept that as the answer.
A 61-year-old commuter. A motorcycle. A driver doing 70mph on the wrong side, who fled the scene with no insurance and no name. Most firms would have filed it under MIB Untraced and waited. Gildeas didn't.
What happened
In 2021, our client was riding to work on his motorcycle. A driver travelling in the opposite direction at 70mph crossed into his path and struck him head-on, then fled the scene. Police and paramedics attended. He was taken to hospital and diagnosed with two broken bones, a fractured pelvis, and a deep right heel laceration that required stitches and surgery — metal implants to hold the structure together.
He spent six weeks with his leg elevated. Wheelchair first, then crutches. Round-the-clock care from his wife and daughter. Cognitive behavioural therapy on top of physiotherapy and hydrotherapy.
Before the accident he was a keen tennis player and had spent 14 years in a leadership role in manufacturing. He did not return to that role full-time.
“I was just going to work that morning. If I'd gotten a taxi that day, it would've been a whole different story.”
The legal problem
The unique difficulty in this case was the unknown identity of the third-party driver. The Scottish three-year limitation clock was running. The Motor Insurers' Bureau Untraced Drivers' Agreement exists for exactly this scenario, but it requires the driver to remain untraced — and we believed he could be found.
The Gildeas team — Emma Thomson and Solicitor Advocate Fergus Thomson — pushed Police Scotland and the Procurator Fiscal to identify and prosecute. They did. The driver was charged on two counts of dangerous driving and causing life-changing injuries, sentenced to three years in prison, and banned from driving.
The outcome
With the driver identified and prosecuted, the case ran as a full court action with proper damages. A six-figure settlement was secured covering injuries, treatment, loss of earnings, and the impact on his quality of life.
Throughout the case Gildeas arranged the medical examinations, the CBT referrals, and — when the client returned to work part-time — a taxi service to take pressure off his wife.
“We were pleased to secure a just settlement for our client and help him through a very difficult time.”
“Everything from the day we started was so professional. They were very good at explaining how the whole process worked in the very beginning. They put everything together and kept us up to date all the way through. Gildeas worked really hard to get where we were.”
Hit by an uninsured driver, or a driver who fled the scene? You still have a claim.
£100K offered.£250K+ secured.“Knocked it out of the park.”
A trained chef and college instructor. North-East Scotland. A car pulls out of a side road into her path on a major route. She's under the speed limit, in full kit, doing nothing wrong. The police suggest she should have paid more attention. The insurer offers £100,000. The case ended at more than two and a half times that.
What happened
Our client was riding her motorbike on a major city road in North-East Scotland when a car driver — not looking — pulled out from a side road into her path. She was below the applicable speed limit. She collided with the car and went down.
She was wearing full protective kit. Her head still hit the ground. She sustained a traumatic brain injury, bit through her tongue, and suffered injuries to both hands and wrists.
She was a trained chef who taught at a local college. The injuries were career-ending in their original form: how do you demonstrate knife technique with damaged hands, or assess a student's seasoning with permanent damage to your tongue?
The fight on liability
The police accident report contained language suggesting our client should have paid more attention to the car emerging from the side road. The third-party insurer ran with that — they argued for contributory negligence and offered £100,000 on a discounted basis.
We rejected both positions. The car driver pulled out without looking, into the path of a rider who was under the limit, in lane, visible, and in full kit. There was no contributory fault to share.
The mental injury element
The client was injured just before the March 2020 lockdown. NHS treatment options collapsed. Her case had a significant psychological component — the loss of independence, the inability to ride to work on the bike she loved, the isolation of lockdown stacked on top of a brain injury.
Gildeas worked with her and with private rehabilitation partners to arrange both physical and mental treatment. Only once the clinical picture stabilised did we approach the other side with a properly quantified figure.
The outcome
A court action was raised. Following lengthy negotiation, a settlement of more than £250,000 was secured — substantially more than the insurer's initial £100,000, and almost double the offer made by her own insurer's appointed solicitors before Gildeas was instructed.
“Stephen Hay, thank you so much for representing me after life-changing injuries in a bike crash due to other's negligence. Thorough professionalism, patience, toleration and understanding was received on every level, keeping me fully informed throughout. Everything explained accurately, briefly and clearly, simplifying it for me to understand on many occasions. You knocked it out of the park. I wish yourself, Stephen, Fergus Thomson (advocate) and everyone at team Gildeas all the very best, as first-class solicitors to professionally deal with from start to finish.”
“This case was complex. She was injured just before lockdown. Her treatment options on the NHS were limited given the stresses experienced from March 2020 onwards. There was also the question of, but for the accident, what would our client have done? There was a significant mental injury element. She loved being on her motorbike. She used it daily to get to and from work. Her confidence was severely knocked because she lost her independence, her ability to do things, and with lockdown she felt unable to leave her home. We worked with her and with our partners to arrange treatment, both physical and mental. When we were ready, we were able to discuss what the future would hold for her — what she would need and what she would be able to do — before approaching the other side. At all times our client was engaged and part of the process, and I am delighted that she is now able to put this accident behind her and move on with her life.”
Was your accident blamed on you when it shouldn't have been?
A 60th birthday ride.A devastating accident.A settlement built for the rest of his life.
Mr Paul Allum, a retired medical physics engineer, came to Scotland to celebrate his 60th birthday. The accident that followed left him in an induced coma with a fractured vertebra, broken legs, broken arms, and broken ribs. He is paralysed from the chest down with no useful function in his right arm. The settlement: £5.9 million. The job: making sure he and his family never have to think about money again.
The accident
Mr Allum was in Scotland for a 60th birthday celebration when the collision occurred. The injuries were extreme: a fractured vertebra, multiple breaks to his legs and arms, broken ribs. His condition required an induced coma.
He was admitted to Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow — a centre with recognised expertise in spinal injury — where he spent three months in intensive care and treatment.
The legal architecture of a £5.9M settlement
A case of this scale isn't won by a single negotiation. It's built, piece by piece, over months of clinical, financial and lifestyle quantification. Director Stephen Hay led the case from the hospital bedside outwards.
The mechanics:
- Initial bedside engagement. Stephen visited Mr Allum at Queen Elizabeth and met the family to understand both the immediate picture and what discharge would require.
- Cross-border coordination. Mr Allum's family home was in South East England. Once stable, he was transferred to a facility closer to home, but the legal action remained Scotland-rooted because of jurisdiction.
- Specialist accommodation sourcing. The existing family home could not accommodate round-the-clock care, a powered wheelchair, and live-in nursing. Property agents retained by Gildeas identified a suitable home requiring substantial modification — including ceiling tracking systems for transfers.
- Customised mobility. At 6'7", Mr Allum required a custom-built wheelchair, which in turn limited which vehicles could be adapted for him. A specially adapted van was specified and procured.
- Interim payments throughout. Gildeas secured staged interim payments from Admiral, the third-party insurer, who agreed to fund the property purchase, modifications, and adapted vehicle before final settlement — meaning Mr Allum's quality of life did not have to wait for the litigation to close.
- Care quantification. Multiple independent medical reports established the physical and neurological injuries, the equipment required, and the care plan. Annual nursing care alone was quantified at £350,000 per year.
The settlement
£5.9 million, accepted. The figure secures lifetime care, the adapted property, the modified vehicle, and the financial buffer required for a man whose retirement plans were rewritten in a single afternoon.
“Stephen assisted at all stages in my recovery — at first assisting my family whilst I was in a coma and getting things set up, then helping arrange for property experts to find a suitable home. Things have not been easy, learning to cope with complete paralysis from the chest down and the loss of usefulness of my right arm; but at all stages Gildeas and Stephen were available for advice and support. Now I am looking forward to getting home with my family.”
“Paul is a highly intelligent and motivated person. I was struck by how big an impact this would have on him, but that he would take a pragmatic approach. My meetings and discussions with him allowed me to identify the issues he would face and what had to be addressed to meet those needs at that point and into the future. Paul was so involved in his case he even took it upon himself to suggest improvements to the manufacturers of the kit being supplied. The injuries have changed Paul's ability to do things physically, but his mental abilities are as sharp as ever. I hope the settlement negotiated here will allow him and his family to move forward without having to worry about Paul's quality of life or the quality of his care.”
Catastrophic injury — spinal, brain, polytrauma, amputation? This is what we do, every day.
What it means for your case.
No. Every case turns on its own facts — injuries, liability position, the rider's earnings and circumstances, and the insurer on the other side. We've shown three deliberately different cases — six figures, £250,000+, £5.9 million — to make exactly that point. What's typical is the standard of work. The figure depends on you.
The hit-and-run case ran multi-year because the driver had to be identified and prosecuted first. The brain injury case settled faster despite a defended liability fight. The £5.9M case ran on interim payments throughout, with the final settlement coming once the lifetime care plan was fully quantified. Speed and value pull in opposite directions on serious cases — settling early usually costs the client.
Yes. Two routes — the Motor Insurers' Bureau Uninsured Drivers' Agreement (driver identified but no insurance) or the Untraced Drivers' Agreement (driver fled). The paperwork is specific and unforgiving. We handle both. Don't wait — the three-year Scottish limitation clock is running from the accident date regardless.
A police report is one piece of evidence. It is not the verdict. The case in North-East Scotland was settled at more than two-and-a-half times the insurer's first offer despite police language suggesting partial fault on the rider. We argue facts, lane position, sightlines, and biomechanics. Don't accept a discount because the police summary read against you.
Almost certainly yes. Pillion passengers are very rarely at fault for the collision. The complication is when the rider you were on the back of was the one at fault — in which case the claim runs against the rider's own insurance. We've handled both routes.
Yes, and we don't minimise it. The brain injury case above included a major psychological injury component, and the £5.9M case included loss of independence as a head of claim in its own right. PTSD and psychological injury are recognised, recoverable, and routinely under-valued by insurers. We will not under-value yours.
If your case involves serious injury, complex liability, or a defended position from the insurer — yes, and we make the switch straightforward. We deal with the outgoing firm, transfer the file, and pick up where they left off.
It depends on the injury, the loss of earnings, and the lifetime care plan. The cases above span six figures (serious orthopaedic injury) to £5.9M (catastrophic spinal injury with lifetime care). We won't quote you a figure on a phone call without medical evidence — anyone who does is guessing. We will tell you on the first call whether you have a claim and what affects its value.
Free, confidential, no obligation.
Stephen and his team take the call directly. Same-day response on weekdays. We'll tell you straight whether you have a claim and what the next step looks like.