Personal injury claims in Edinburgh
- Regulated by the Law Society of Scotland
- Free, with no obligation
- Email reply within 24 hours in office hours
Published by Rooney Family Law Limited, solicitors, regulated by the Law Society of Scotland. Last reviewed 20th September 2026.
If you were injured in Edinburgh because someone else was careless, you may be able to claim compensation on a no win no fee basis, and you normally have three years to start a court action. Edinburgh is also where the national personal injury court sits, so contested injury claims from all over Scotland are heard in the city.
The court on your doorstep
The All-Scotland Sheriff Personal Injury Court was created in 2015 and sits in Edinburgh. The court has sheriffs designated as specialists in personal injury work, and it takes claims from anywhere in Scotland: workplace claims worth more than £1,000 and other injury claims worth more than £5,000. Claims of £5,000 or less normally use summary cause procedure in the sheriff court rather than the simple procedure used for other small claims, and claims above £100,000 can be raised in the Court of Session. Your solicitor will identify the right court and procedure.
For someone injured in Edinburgh that is a practical advantage rather than a technicality: the court has its own specialist procedures for injury actions. Most claims settle before any hearing in any event.
How an Edinburgh claim runs
- Your account. You tell us what happened. We reply by email within 24 hours in office hours, ask the questions that matter, and tell you whether we think the claim is worth referring.
- The specialist firm decides. If it accepts your case, it writes to whoever is responsible or their insurer, who has 21 days to acknowledge and up to three months to respond on liability in most claims up to £25,000.
- Medical evidence. Your records come from your general practitioner and, if you attended, the hospital: for most people in Edinburgh that means NHS Lothian, whether the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh at Little France, the Western General, St John's Hospital in Livingston or a minor injuries unit. An independent doctor then examines you, usually in the city.
- Settlement or court. Most claims settle by negotiation once the medical position is clear.
The claims we see most often from Edinburgh
Accidents at work in hospitality, retail, construction, warehousing, universities and hospitals, which between them employ a large part of the city. Road accidents on the city bypass, Queensferry Road and in the centre, where cars, buses, trams, cyclists and large numbers of pedestrians share tight space. Falls on pavements and stairs, which in Edinburgh has a particular character: the Old and New Towns are full of tenement stairs, basement areas and steep setted streets, and in winter the combination of ice and stone steps produces a steady stream of serious injuries.
Two local points. A fall on a pavement or local road is usually a claim against the City of Edinburgh Council as roads authority, and turns on whether the defect had been there long enough that a reasonable inspection should have found it; the city bypass and other trunk roads are Transport Scotland's responsibility instead. A fall in a tenement stair may be a claim against the owners jointly or against a factor, and the title deeds decide which.
What it costs
Our assessment is free. If a specialist firm accepts your case it will decide whether to offer no win no fee funding. No success fee is payable if the claim fails, though the firm's written agreement explains any insurance premium and the circumstances in which other costs could arise. Ordinary outlays such as medical reports are not separately charged. If the claim succeeds the success fee, including VAT, is capped at 20 per cent of the first £100,000. Since 30th June 2021 the law also protects injury claimants against paying the other side's legal costs if the claim fails, with the exceptions set out on our how we work and fees page. We receive a referral payment from the specialist firm, paid out of the fee that firm earns; under our agreement with the firm it must not increase the success fee charged to you. You pay us nothing.
Questions people ask
Do I need an Edinburgh solicitor?
Most injury work is done by email and telephone, and the specialist court sits in Edinburgh in any event. Experience matters more than an address.
I was injured on the tram or a bus.
The claim is against the operator if its driver was at fault, or against another road user if they were. Tell us what happened.
I slipped on ice on a public stair.
Possible, but these are difficult. What matters is whether whoever was responsible had a reasonable system for treating it and followed it.
Injured in Edinburgh? Tell us what happened
We assess your enquiry free of charge and, with your consent, refer good claims to a specialist personal injury firm, which decides whether to take your case on. We receive a referral payment from that firm, paid out of the fee it earns; under our agreement it must not increase the success fee you are charged.
Sources for this page: Courts Reform (Scotland) Act 2014; All-Scotland Sheriff Court (Sheriff Personal Injury Court) Order 2015; Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service, summary cause and simple procedure guidance; Act of Sederunt (Sheriff Court Rules Amendment) (Personal Injury Pre-Action Protocol) 2016; Roads (Scotland) Act 1984, section 1; Occupiers' Liability (Scotland) Act 1960, section 2; Civil Litigation (Expenses and Group Proceedings) (Scotland) Act 2018, sections 6 and 8; Success Fee Agreements (Scotland) Regulations 2020.