Delivery Driver and
Courier Accident Claims
Including if you are self-employed
Most delivery drivers who ring us start by saying they probably cannot claim because they are self-employed. That is usually not the obstacle they think it is. We will look at what happened, work out who was responsible, and tell you honestly whether there is a claim.
Regulated solicitors
Years' experience
No Win No Fee
Can you claim if you are self-employed?
Usually yes. If you have had an accident at work and you are self-employed, the reason you can often still claim is simpler than the employment status arguments you may have read about.
For most delivery accidents, your employment status barely comes into it. If another driver pulled out on you, or a customer’s step gave way, or a dog got loose, the claim is against that person and their insurer. Whether you file a tax return or get a payslip does not change whether they were careless.
You still have to show they were at fault. But being self-employed is not, by itself, the thing that stops you.
Status matters most when the claim is against the company you deliver for, because that is where the question of what they owed you arises. Even then, a self-employed label does not automatically strip away every duty: whoever controls a depot, or supplies equipment you have to use, can still owe you something.
What the courts have actually said
Employment status in the gig economy is decided case by case, and the courts have reached different answers for different companies. The Supreme Court held in 2021 that Uber drivers were workers. In 2023 it held that Deliveroo riders were not in an employment relationship, because riders could genuinely send someone else in their place.
So nobody can tell you from a web page what your status is, and you should be wary of any firm that says they can. What we can do is look at your actual arrangement.
The practical point
This all matters far less than people expect, because the majority of delivery driver claims are against a negligent third party rather than against the platform.
The bigger practical difference for a self-employed driver is not whether you can claim. It is proving what you lost, which is covered further down this page and is worth reading if you are paid per drop.
Common causes of a delivery driver accident at work
Delivery work exposes you to more kinds of risk than most jobs, because you are on the road, in a depot and on other people’s property in the same shift. Different accidents follow different legal routes, which is why it helps to say exactly what happened.tg
Road traffic accidents
The most common by far. Another driver pulls out, rear-ends you at a drop, or opens a door into your path. The claim runs against them and their insurer in the ordinary way.
Loading and lifting
Back, shoulder and knee injuries from parcels that were too heavy, badly stacked cages, or a round timed so tightly that nobody could lift properly.
Slips and falls on a delivery
An ungritted path, a broken step, an unlit driveway. As a lawful visitor you are owed a duty by whoever occupies the property, under the Occupiers’ Liability Act 1957.
Dog attacks
A serious and routine hazard for anyone delivering to doorsteps. Covered in its own section below, because the law changed in a way that matters.
Depot and warehouse accidents
Struck by a forklift or a cage, falls from a tail lift, or injuries in a yard where vehicles and people are not kept apart.
Faulty vehicles and equipment
Worn tyres, failing brakes, a broken tail lift or a trolley that was never maintained. Where a company supplies equipment for work, it may be responsible for its condition.
Bitten by a dog on a delivery
If you deliver for a living you will already know how ordinary this is, and how often it gets shrugged off as part of the job. It is not part of the job, and the law is more on your side than most drivers realise.
A claim is usually brought against the dog’s owner or keeper. The Animals Act 1971 can make an owner responsible for damage their animal causes in certain circumstances, and there is also an ordinary negligence route where someone simply failed to keep control of a dog they knew could be a problem.
The change worth knowing about: the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 was amended in 2014 so that it now covers attacks on private property, not just in public. Before that, being bitten on a customer’s own doorstep sat outside a good deal of the protection. That amendment was driven in large part by the number of postal and delivery workers being attacked at the door.
- Get medical attention, even for a puncture wound that looks small. Dog bites carry a real infection risk and the record matters
- Note the address, and the dog if you can describe it
- Report it to your employer or the platform, and to the police where the attack was serious
- Photograph the injury as it develops, including any scarring
- Keep any record of the round, which fixes the time and place
Scarring claims in particular are often settled too cheaply and too early. Scars change over the first year or two, which is why these are not usually valued straight away.
In practice these claims are often met by the occupier’s home insurance, though not every household has cover, and that is one of the first things we check.
How much compensation could a claim be worth?
There is no set figure for delivery driver compensation, and any firm quoting you one before a doctor has examined you is guessing. What decides it is the injury, how long it keeps you off the road, and what that has cost you.
General damages
For the injury itself and its effect on your life. The courts work from the Judicial College Guidelines, which set out bracket ranges by severity. Those are guidance for valuing a claim, not a promise of what you will receive.
An independent medical expert assesses how bad it is and whether anything is likely to be permanent, which matters a great deal in a job that depends on your back, your shoulders and your driving.
Special damages
For what the accident has cost you and will cost you:
- Lost income while you could not work
- Future earnings if the injury affects what you can do
- Vehicle damage, repairs and hire
- Treatment, physiotherapy and travel to appointments
- Care and help at home while you recovered
Proving lost income when you are self-employed
This is the part that catches self-employed drivers out, and it is worth getting right from the start. An employed driver can produce payslips. If you are paid per drop, per route or per parcel, nobody hands you that evidence and it has to be built.
What helps: your accounts and tax returns, invoices and remittance statements from the company you deliver for, bank statements showing what was landing before the accident, and app records of the rounds you were completing. Records of the work you had to turn down afterwards can matter too.
If your earnings varied week to week, that is normal and it does not defeat the claim. It just means the loss is worked out over a longer period. Start keeping the paperwork now rather than reconstructing it later.
Evidence that supports a delivery
driver claim
You do not need all of this before you get in touch. Much of it we request for you, and some of it only exists on someone else’s system.
Worried about losing the work? It is a fair concern and worth raising with us openly. Where a claim is against another road user or a householder, the company you deliver for is not the one paying it, which changes the picture for a lot of people.
No Win No Fee delivery driver accident claims
A No Win No Fee agreement, properly called a Conditional Fee Agreement, means there is nothing to pay upfront. If the claim does not succeed, you do not pay us for our work, subject to the terms of your agreement.
If it succeeds, a success fee agreed with you in advance comes out of your compensation. There is a legal cap on that fee in personal injury claims, and it is worth understanding properly: the cap is calculated on your damages for the injury itself and your past financial losses, not on the whole settlement, because future losses are left out of the calculation. Your agreement will set out the exact percentage in writing before you sign.
Asking whether you have a claim commits you to nothing, and there is no cold calling afterwards.
Delivery driver accident claims
your questions answered
The questions we are asked most, answered plainly.
I'm self-employed for Amazon Flex or Evri. Can I still claim?
In most cases yes. If someone else caused your accident, a negligent driver, a householder with a broken step, an owner who did not control their dog, you claim against them and your own employment status is largely beside the point. You still have to prove they were at fault. Status becomes important mainly where the claim is against the company you deliver for, and that is a fact-specific question we would look at with you.
I was bitten by a dog while delivering. Who do I claim against?
Usually the dog’s owner or keeper. The Animals Act 1971 can make an owner responsible for damage their animal causes in certain circumstances, and there is also an ordinary negligence route where someone failed to keep a dog under control. Since 2014 the Dangerous Dogs Act has also covered attacks on private property, which matters because so many of these happen on a doorstep. These claims are often met by the occupier’s home insurance, though not every household has cover.
I slipped on a customer's icy path. Can I claim against them?
You may be able to. Under the Occupiers’ Liability Act 1957 an occupier owes lawful visitors a duty to take reasonable care that they are reasonably safe, and a delivery driver at the door is a lawful visitor. Whether a claim succeeds depends on what was reasonable in the circumstances, which is not the same as saying every fall on a private path is someone’s fault. A broken step or an unlit stairwell is usually a stronger case than untreated ice during a cold snap, but both are worth asking about.
My work van had a fault and it caused the crash. What then?
Where a company provides a vehicle or equipment for work, it has duties about the condition it is in, including under the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations. If bald tyres or failing brakes caused your crash, whoever was responsible for maintaining that vehicle may be responsible for what followed. The position can differ if you are genuinely self-employed and running your own van, so tell us whose vehicle it was and who serviced it. If you reported the fault beforehand and were told to carry on, say so, because that tends to matter.
How do I prove lost earnings if I'm paid per drop?
With paperwork rather than payslips: accounts, tax returns, invoices and remittance statements, bank statements showing what was coming in before the accident, and app records of the rounds you were doing. If your income varied week to week, that is normal for the job and does not defeat the claim; the loss is simply worked out across a longer period. Start gathering it now, because it is far easier than reconstructing a year later.
How long do I have to make a claim?
Usually three years from the date of the accident. For someone under 18 the three years runs from their 18th birthday, and where a person lacks the mental capacity to claim there may be no time limit. In practice the bigger pressure is evidence rather than the deadline: dashcam and doorbell footage is overwritten within weeks, and access to app and route data can disappear when the work does.
Find out where you stand
Tell us what happened, who you deliver for, and whether you are employed or self-employed. We will work out who was responsible and whether there is a claim worth bringing. If we do not think there is, we will tell you that too.
- Free, confidential and without obligation
- No Win No Fee available
- SRA-regulated solicitors
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Other claims we handle
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Delivery work has a habit of treating injuries as part of the round. If someone else caused yours, being self-employed is rarely the barrier people assume it is. The conversation is free and commits you to nothing.
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