Authorities have issued a warning against the crash for cash scam following an upsurge in reports of attempted collisions in north Telford.
Police officers said there were several reported incidents last week involving different cars at junctions along A518 road between Donnington and Newport, according to a report by
Shropshirelive.com.
There were no actual collisions but motorists said they were involved in near misses, the report added.
“Cash for crash collisions happen when a driver undertakes a deliberate action, normally braking very hard for no apparent reason, causing another motorist to collide with them,” police constable Lee Thomas told
Shropshirelive.com.
Thomas said cash for crash scammers make overstated insurance claims while police and insurers look for patterns of behaviour to establish if crimes were committed during the collisions.
“Subsequent damage and injury claims submitted to insurance companies are massively over-inflated in the hope of receiving a substantial payout,” Thomas was quoted as saying by
Shropshirelive.com.
“With the majority of road traffic collisions, where there is no injury disclosed at the time or damage caused to anything other than the vehicles themselves, the police do not need to attend and it’s left to insurance companies to sort out,” Thomas also told the news website.
According to the report, the number of road-related personal injury claims has increased by 60% since 2006 despite better vehicle engineering and technology.
Citing industry figures, the report said the crash for cash scam costs £1 billion every year, with about 60% of whiplash claims being fraudulent.
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