The Law Gazette
The owner of the stationary car claimed £5,000 for injuries to his neck, back and arm as a result of the collision. But the female driver of the reversing car obtained CCTV footage of the incident and proved he was standing next to his vehicle at the time of the shunt.
The footage was passed to the woman’s insurer LV= which then flagged up the case to the City of London Police’s Insurance Fraud Enforcement Department to investigate.
The claimant, a man in his 50s, was interviewed by police last month and initially tried to maintain his story that he was injured whilst inside his car during the collision. When he was shown the CCTV he admitted to making the story up.
The man was given a police caution last week and officers have released the footage to warn members of the public against submitting fraudulent insurance claims.
Detective constable Mohammed Darr, from the Insurance Fraud Enforcement Department said: ‘This was one of the most blatant cases I’ve dealt with and he was clearly lying to LV= to try and get a compensation payout for injuries he never received. He now has this on his criminal record and he also has to declare the fact he was involved in fraudulent activity to his employer as he is in a notifiable occupation.
‘As well as being criminal, this kind of behaviour also drives up insurance premiums for honest customers and we all end up footing the bill. It may be tempting to submit exaggerated or dishonest claims to try and increase an insurance claim, but it is fraud and where cases are identified they can be passed to police and you could end up with a criminal record, a conviction, or even end up in prison.’
