What evidence you need
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Published by Rooney Family Law Limited, solicitors, regulated by the Law Society of Scotland. Last reviewed 20th September 2026.
Injury claims are decided on four things: proof the accident happened as you say, proof someone else was at fault, medical evidence of your injury, and documents showing what it has cost you. You do not need all of it to enquire, but the parts that vanish quickest are worth dealing with this week.
What disappears fastest, in order
The scene. Spillages are mopped, potholes filled, broken machinery repaired. Photograph it today, with something in the picture for scale, and photograph the wider area so it is clear where it was.
CCTV. Retention periods vary and can be short, so ask for preservation immediately. If you think you were recorded, a written request that the footage be preserved needs to go in at once. Your solicitor can send one, but tell them now rather than next month.
Witnesses. Agency workers move on, customers are never traced, memories fade. A name and a mobile number written down on the day is worth more than any amount of later effort.
Your own memory. Write down what happened while it is fresh: the sequence, the conditions, what was said, who was there. Date it. It is not evidence in itself, but it stops your account drifting over the two years that follow.
The medical record
This is the backbone of every claim. Get whatever treatment your injury needs, and when you are asked how you are, answer accurately rather than stoically. The note made by a general practitioner, minor injuries unit or hospital in the days after the accident carries real weight, because it was written before anyone was thinking about a claim.
Then keep a short diary. Two lines a week: what hurts, what you cannot do, what you have had to stop. Sleep, work, driving, lifting, hobbies, the help you have needed at home. In a case that takes eighteen months this is the only reliable record of what the injury was actually like, and it is the thing most people wish they had kept.
Proving fault
What this takes depends on the accident. At work: the accident book entry, any report to the Health and Safety Executive, and the employer's own paperwork on risk assessments, training and maintenance. On the road: the other driver's details, the police incident number if there is one, dashcam footage, and photographs of the vehicles and the road. In a public place: the hazard itself, the report you made, and any sign the problem had been there a while or had been reported before.
Much of the most useful material is held by the other side, not by you. Your solicitor can request risk assessments, training records, maintenance logs, cleaning schedules and inspection records, and a court can order their production. Do not abandon a claim because you cannot get the documents yourself.
Proving what it cost you
Payslips for the months before and after, so lost earnings can be calculated properly. Receipts for prescriptions, treatment, travel to appointments, equipment and anything you had to replace. A note of help given by family: who, what and roughly how many hours a week, because that is claimable even though nobody was paid. If you paid privately for physiotherapy, keep the invoices and the discharge letter.
A short checklist
| Do today | Do this week | Keep going |
|---|---|---|
| Photograph the scene and the cause. Note witness names and numbers. Ask that CCTV be preserved. | Report it in writing and get a copy. Seek medical attention if your symptoms need assessment or treatment. Write your own account and date it. | A two-line weekly diary. Every receipt. Every payslip. Appointment letters. |
What you do not need before enquiring
You do not need medical records, an expert report, a police report or a solicitor's letter before speaking to us. You need enough to describe what happened, when and where, what injury you have, and why you think somebody else was at fault. We will tell you what is missing and whether it can be obtained.
Questions people ask
I have no photographs and there were no witnesses.
It is harder, not always impossible. Contemporaneous reports and medical records can carry a claim. Tell us what does exist.
Can I get my own medical records?
Yes, you are entitled to them, though your solicitor will normally obtain them in the proper form for a claim.
Should I post about it on social media?
No. Insurers look, and a cheerful holiday photograph is routinely produced to suggest an injury was exaggerated, however unfair that is.
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: Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 2013; Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999, regulation 3; Act of Sederunt (Sheriff Court Rules Amendment) (Personal Injury Pre-Action Protocol) 2016; Administration of Justice (Scotland) Act 1982, sections 8 and 9; UK GDPR, Article 15.