Public Transport Accident Claims
Bus, coach, train, tram and taxi
As a passenger you have almost no control over what happens, which is why the law tends to be on your side when something goes wrong. If you were injured on public transport and it was not your fault, you may be able to make a public transport accident claim. You do not need to know who was to blame before you call us.
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Can you make a public transport accident claim?
Usually, if you were injured within the last three years and somebody else was at fault. Operators owe passengers a duty of care, and so do the other drivers on the road around them. A passenger injury claim can follow a collision, a fall on board, or a hazard at a station or stop.
It applies whether you were on a bus, coach, train, tram, the Underground or in a taxi, and whether you were a fare-paying passenger, a pedestrian struck by a vehicle, or a cyclist. If you were partly responsible yourself, compensation is usually reduced to reflect that rather than refused.
You do not need to know who was at fault
This is the thing that stops most passengers ringing. You were sitting down, facing the wrong way, or looking at your phone. Something happened, and you have no idea whether the driver of your bus caused it or the car that pulled out did.
You are not expected to know. Working out who was responsible is the job of the claim, not a condition of starting one. Between the operator’s incident log, the CCTV, the police report and the accounts of other passengers, the picture is usually established without you having seen it happen.
Being a passenger also puts you in a strong position. It is rare for a passenger to be blamed for a collision, and where two parties dispute who was at fault, that argument is between their insurers rather than something you have to resolve first. Even where the other driver was never identified or turns out to be uninsured, there is a route to compensation through the Motor Insurers’ Bureau.
bus and coach passengers injured on Britain’s roads in 2025
That is around forty people a week, and it counts only bus and coach occupants, not passengers hurt on trains, trams or in taxis. Bus and coach casualties have actually fallen, down 9 per cent on the previous year and down 56 per cent over a decade, which is worth saying plainly. Travelling by bus is not dangerous. It is simply that when something does go wrong, a passenger had no way to prevent it.
Source: Department for Transport, reported road casualties in Great Britain, provisional estimates 2025.
Bus accident claims
Bus passengers are hurt more often standing still than in collisions. Most bus accident compensation claims we handle come from movement inside the vehicle rather than an impact with something outside it, and they cover coach travel as well as local services.
Being thrown forward while standing, or before you have reached a seat. A very common cause of a bus accident claim, and one passengers often wrongly assume is their own fault.
Including falls on the steps and injuries to people getting off with shopping or a pushchair.
Maintenance failures the operator should have picked up, which is where their inspection records matter.
Where a bus passenger accident claim may be against the operator, the other driver, or both.
A coach accident claim can follow luggage falling from overhead racks, a fall on the steps, or a collision on a longer journey. Accidents abroad have their own rules and shorter deadlines.
Taxi and private hire accident claims
A taxi passenger accident claim is usually the most straightforward kind on this page, because a passenger in the back of a cab is almost never held responsible for what happened.
Whether it was your driver or the other one, you can claim. If they disagree, the argument is between their insurers, not something you need to settle first.
All are covered. Keep the booking confirmation or receipt, because it identifies the vehicle and the operator.
Being dropped in an unsafe spot, or a door opened into traffic or into a cyclist.
Not wearing one may reduce compensation, but it does not by itself prevent a claim.
Train, tram and Underground accident claims
Most rail injuries happen at the station rather than on the train, and responsibility can sit with the operator, the station manager or the infrastructure owner.
Falls while boarding or leaving a train, especially where the step or gap was poorly lit or unmarked.
Station falls where cleaning, signage or maintenance fell short. A train station accident claim is usually against whoever manages the station.
Being caught in closing doors, or injured because a service was dangerously full.
Including collisions with pedestrians and cyclists at street-level crossings.
What a passenger injury claim can cover
No reliable figure can be given before the medical evidence is in, and no online calculator can produce one. What the claim is worth depends on the injury, how long it takes to recover, and what it has cost you.
A claim has two parts. General damages cover the injury itself and its effect on your life. Special damages cover your financial losses, which on public transport claims often include things people forget to mention, like a phone smashed in the fall or a season ticket for journeys you could no longer make.
- The injury, your recovery and any lasting effects
- Lost earnings, now and in the future
- Treatment, physiotherapy and travel to appointments
- Damaged belongings, such as a phone, glasses or a laptop
- Care from family, and anxiety about travelling since
Evidence that supports a public transport accident claim
One thing here is genuinely time-sensitive. Operators overwrite CCTV on a cycle measured in weeks, so the sooner someone asks them to preserve it, the better.
Did not get anyone’s details? Passengers rarely do. Operators keep records of who was driving and when, and we request them.
No Win No Fee public transport 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 is deducted from your compensation, and insurance is usually arranged to cover the other side’s costs. You will see the percentage in writing, and have it explained, before you sign anything.If it succeeds, a success fee agreed with you in advance is deducted from your compensation, and insurance is usually arranged to cover the other side’s costs. You will see the percentage in writing, and have it explained, before you sign anything.
You will see the full terms in writing before your claim begins.
Public transport accident claims
your questions answered
Everything you need to know before starting your claim.
Can I claim if I was injured on a bus that braked suddenly?
Often, yes, and it is one of the most common reasons for a bus accident claim. People assume that losing their footing is their own fault for not holding on, but a driver is expected to drive in a way that accounts for standing passengers, and the operator has a duty of care towards you. Whether the braking was avoidable is exactly what the CCTV and the driver’s account are there to establish, and that is our job rather than yours.
Who do I claim against if I was a passenger?
Whoever was at fault, which may be the transport operator, another road user, the company managing a station, or more than one of them. You do not need to work this out before contacting us. If the other driver was never traced or had no insurance, there is a route to compensation through the Motor Insurers’ Bureau.
What if I did not report it at the time?
You can still claim. Plenty of people get off the bus, feel shaken but able to carry on, and only realise the next morning how badly they were hurt. Reporting it helps, but it is not a requirement. Tell us what happened and we will look for the operator’s own records, which often exist even when nobody made a formal report.
How do I get the CCTV from a bus or train?
We ask the operator to preserve and release it. The important thing is speed: footage is routinely overwritten within weeks, so a request made early is far more likely to succeed than one made months later. If you remember the route, the time and roughly where you were sitting, that is usually enough for them to find it.
How much compensation could I get?
There is no set amount and no calculator can work it out, because it depends on your injury, your recovery and what the accident has cost you. A claim covers the injury itself plus financial losses such as lost earnings, treatment and damaged belongings. Once an independent medical report is in, your solicitor will explain what your claim should include and why.
How long do I have to make a claim?
Usually three years from the accident. If you were under 18 at the time, the three years runs from your eighteenth birthday, and where an injured person lacks the mental capacity to claim, the time limit generally does not run. Accidents abroad, including on a coach trip, can have shorter limits, so those are worth checking early.
Find out where you stand
Tell us what you remember, even if that is not much. We will tell you whether there is a claim worth bringing and what it would involve. If we do not think there is, we will say so.
- Free, no-obligation review
- No Win No Fee available
- SRA-regulated solicitors
Check if you can make a claim
Takes less than 60 seconds
Other road traffic claims we handle
Find out whether you have a claim
The CCTV that would show what happened is usually wiped within weeks, which is the one reason not to leave this. A short conversation costs nothing and puts you under no obligation.
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