'Crash for cash' pair warned
Lancashire Telegraph / 19th March 2007
Two men who staged an accident in a "crash for cash" scam have been cautioned by police.

And officers said they hoped the action taken on two Blackburn men would deter others from making insurance claims for bogus accidents.

The news comes after it was revealed by the Insurance Fraud Bureau (IFB) in December that so-called "crash for cash" scams happened in Blackburn more than anywhere else in the country.

Officers said the fraud came to light when a police investigation revealed a 22-year-old and a 24-year-old, both Blackburn men, were found to have staged a crash.

The men, who were driving a Ford Focus and a Vauxhall Astra, said they had collided in Plane Street, Blackburn, However it was revealed they had actually driven to an industrial estate in Blackburn at night and staged the crash.

They alleged three passengers were in each car and attempted to make an insurance claim for the vehicle and compensation for injuries.

Police said they discovered that only the two men were in the cars which were virtually written off.

The 22-year-old and 24-year old were both given an adult caution.

Sergeant Keith Jackson, from the Eastern Division Road Policing Unit, said: "The arrest and subsequent caution of these two men should serve as an example to individuals thinking about committing similar scams.

"Following a joint investigation between the police and insurance companies the two men, by staging this accident, are now facing expensive repair costs totalling around £10,000.

"Attempting to make an fraudulent insurance claim is illegal and the maximum penalty for this type of offence is a prison sentence.

"We take offences such as these very seriously and anyone found to be committing this crime will be dealt with accordingly."

Back in December the IFB, said that "crash for cash" typically involved fraudsters performing unexpected, unnecessary or dangerous emergency stops designed to cause innocent members of the public to crash into them.

An insurance claim is then made, including several accounts of fictitious injuries.