‘Crash for cash’ at all time high, says insurer

Incidents of “crash for cash”, where road accidents are deliberately staged to gain fraudulent whiplash-injury compensation, are at an all-time high, according to an insurance company.
By The Newsroom
Published 6th Nov 2014, 02:00 BST
Damage to the bus involved in a 'crash for cash' case in Sheffield in 2011Damage to the bus involved in a 'crash for cash' case in Sheffield in 2011
Damage to the bus involved in a 'crash for cash' case in Sheffield in 2011

So far this year, York-based Aviva has seen a 21 per cent rise in organised fraud cases compared with 2013, with organised gangs at the heart of the increase.

The company said Birmingham and Greater London were the worst areas for crash for cash cases, with other blackspots including Luton, Manchester, Leeds, Bradford and Slough in Berkshire.

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Earlier this year, members of a gang that deliberately crashed a 12-tonne bus carrying 26 passengers as part of a thousand-pound ‘crash-for-cash’ scam in Sheffield were jailed by a judge.

Aviva said fraudulent claims were adding around £14 to every motor insurance premium, with fraudulent claims in Birmingham totalling more than £4.7 million in August alone.

Aviva said more than 50 per cent of its motor injury claims fraud is now organised, with the company having more than 6,500 suspicious injury claims linked to known fraud rings.

Tom Gardiner, head of claims fraud for Aviva’s UK and Ireland general insurance business, said, “We are asking the Government to consider compensating short-term whiplash with rehabilitation, instead of cash. Would crash for cash exist if there was no money in it? We don’t think so.”