Bus driver sentenced over 'crash for cash' fraud

Luqmahn Danial, 28, smashed his double decker bus into the back of his friend's car after picking up six accomplices in an ambitious "cash for crash" scam.

A court heard the bus driver ignored genuine passengers waiting at bus stops as he drove the route 182 to Brent Cross in north-west London.

He instead picked up six other men and hit the back of a Seat Toledo driven by friend Imran Hussain as he travelled through Harrow.

The gang hoped to submit fake claims for whiplash and other injuries, as well as creaming off referral fees, in a string of insurance applications.

But detectives were tipped off that the men knew each other and unravelled the web of deceit when mobile phone records revealed their links.

Danial, of Bessborough Road, Harrow, and Hussain, 29, of Nibthwaite Road, Harrow, were handed suspended six-month prison terms at Harrow Crown Court yesterday, the Metropolitan Police said.

A third man, Mohamad Tabibi, 26, of Rayners Lane, Harrow, who was a passenger in the Seat, was also handed a suspended six-month prison term. All three men admitted fraud at an earlier hearing.

The crash took place in April 2008 in Greenhill Way, Harrow.