Auto insurance fraud – by the coach-load

The 3 men behind a crash-for-cash fraud involving a coachload of folks have been sent to prison for a total of 29 months.

Liam Gray, Ben Carberry and Kevin Hamilton have been jailed for organising a deliberate crash among the coach and a auto driven by Hamilton in a bid to make fraudulent insurance claims.

The aim of the scam was to claim close to £150,000 in fake individual injury claims created by the 30 men and women on the coach.

But the strategy started to unravel when the coach driver – who was not in on the fraud – raised the alarm…

What occurred?

The accident between Hamilton’s car and the coach, which was transporting 30 people to Belle Vue dog track in Manchester, took spot in December 2011.

It involved Hamilton hitting the coach from behind at a roundabout at a junction of the M57. The influence was so slight that the coach driver did not even notice it had occurred.

Nonetheless, he pulled more than right after becoming told by passengers that a Renault Megane had ploughed into the back of his vehicle.

He also delivered the passengers to a pub in Bootle soon after they mentioned they felt as well unwell to go on with the trip, even although the harm to the 2 vehicles was superficial.

And he watched them run across the road to the pub – regardless of their “injuries”.

How did they get caught?

The 30 coach crash whiplash claims received by Service Underwriting, acting on behalf of Mulsanne Insurance, raised suspicions – especially given the coach driver’s take on events.

The firm for that reason referred the case to the City of London Police’s Insurance Fraud Enforcement Division (IFED).

Its investigation established that Gray had bought the Renault involved in the collisions, along with insurance coverage for Hamilton, and that Carberry had arranged and paid for the coach.

Det Sgt Mark Forster at IFED said: “This was a cautiously planned crime by a group of buddies. The fact they had been placing lives at risk by causing a crash on a busy motorway did not hold them back.”

What is “crashing for cash”?

Insurance coverage fraud shot up by 18% in 2013, pushing the total to a record £1.3 billion, according to the Association of British Insurers (ABI).

And several of the fraudulent claims related to deliberate collisions in which criminals “crash for cash”.

Whiplash claims – genuine as well as exaggerated and bogus ones – are thoughts to add around £90 a year to the price of vehicle insurance coverage.

Some £50 of that figure is the outcome of fraudulent claims.

What is becoming completed about it?

Laws introduced final year aim to slash the quantity of fraudulent whiplash claims by stopping “ambulance-chasing” lawyers getting referral charges and creating claimants who are identified to be dishonest pay their personal charges.

This new regime seems to be getting the desired impact. The amount claimed in individual injury cases has fallen by 33% year-on-year to £238 million, according to a recent report from the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries.

Just last month, an Aviva claimant discovered to have been dishonest was also ordered to pay his personal court charges.

If you suspect you have been involved in or noticed a “crash for cash” incident, you can report it to the Insurance coverage Fraud Bureau by calling its confidential Cheatline on 0800 422 0421.

Auto insurance fraud – by the coach-load