Thanks to the wonders of CCTV, a woman from Staffordshire failed to fraudulently claim £3,000 from travel firm Arriva.
Picture this: a bus hits a parked vehicle; car owner sees it and thinks ‘I must get inside’ to fake a claim; and fraudster gets busted because of footage documenting the hilarity of it all. That’s pretty much what happened when an Arriva bus crashed into Helen Elcock’s Ford Focus, according to a Metro report.
The report said Elcock even claimed to have suffered neck and shoulder injuries from the collision she wasn’t part of. CCTV footage from the bus showed Elcock’s whereabouts when the accident happened – outside the car.
“In the CCTV she is seen to get in her car immediately after the crash takes place. She is sitting with the door open when the bus driver gets out, so the bus driver understands she had been in her car,” said lawyer Corin Furness – who represented Arriva in court – as quoted by the report.
Judge Purle QC said Elcock misled solicitors, medical experts, and the courts. The woman was handed a six-month jail term, suspended for 12 months.
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