Custodial sentence for £1.6m “crash for cash” scammer

by Gill Montia

Story link: Custodial sentence for £1.6m “crash for cash” scammer

A man appearing before Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court has been jailed for four-and-a-half years after pleading guilty to involvement in a £1.6 million “crash for cash” conspiracy.

Mohammed Patel pleaded guilty to 17 charges, including conspiracy to defraud, dangerous driving and disqualified driving.

Between 2005 and 2008, he staged at least 93 motor vehicle “accidents” in and around Greater Manchester, which cost insurers an average £17,000 in bogus damages per incident.

Mr Patel, a resident of Bolton at the time of his offences, specialised in low speed non-fault crashes at roundabouts, charging £500 for each crash and spending his ill-gotten gains on luxury cars and holidays.

Owners of the vehicles driven by Mr Patel then claimed for personal injury, courtesy cars, legal fees and the like from the other party’s insurers.

The scam was eventually exposed by office workers at Cheadle Hulme, Stockport, who observed that Mr Patel was frequently involved in minor accidents at a nearby roundabout, and reported their suspicions of “crash for cash” fraud.

According to reports, 24 other criminals are due to be sentenced in relation to the scam.