Car insurance coverage fraud – by the coach-load

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

Liam Gray, Ben Carberry and Kevin Hamilton had been jailed for organising a deliberate crash between 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 private injury claims made by the 30 men and women on the coach.

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

What happened?

The accident among Hamilton’s vehicle and the coach, which was transporting 30 folks 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 over soon after getting told by passengers that a Renault Megane had ploughed into the back of his automobile.

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

And he watched them run across the road to the pub – in spite 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 Department (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 stated: “This was a carefully planned crime by a group of friends. The reality they were putting lives at threat 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 numerous of the fraudulent claims connected to deliberate collisions in which criminals “crash for cash”.

Whiplash claims – genuine as nicely as exaggerated and bogus ones – are thoughts to add about £90 a year to the cost of automobile insurance coverage.

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

What is becoming done about it?

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

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

Just final month, an Aviva claimant found to have been dishonest was also ordered to spend his own court expenses.

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

Car insurance coverage fraud – by the coach-load