A 27-year-old man who caused a car crash and then tried to claim for damages and a personal injury was sentenced last Tuesday to six months in prison. Mohamed Rahman of South Wales was convicted by the Cardiff Crown Court of fraud by false representation, after he caused a collision on the M4 Severn Bridge by the tolling booths on 1 June last year.
“Rahman tried to pull the wool over everyone’s eyes in order to make a profit. This greed however has only led to him receiving a criminal record and a prison sentence,” said the City of London Police’s Detective Constable Ian Cambridge, who headed the investigation.
CCTV footage showed Rahman driving his car toward the toll booths, and cutting into the inside lane where other vehicles were queueing up. By attempting to cut in, he damages the front offside of another vehicle. Rahman and the victim get out of their cars and exchange details.
According to a statement from the police, Rahman claimed he spoke with a friend who suggested he could make some money by blaming the other driver and making a claim against the driver’s insurance company.
Rahman contacted his insurer on 2 June claimed he was driving in the correct lane towards the tolling booth when the victim had damaged his car by trying to cut into the lane. He told the same to a claims management company. He also contacted a local solicitor’s firm to instruct them to make a personal injury claim on his behalf. Rahman gave them the same account and claimed that the victim had collided with him and as a result it had reignited a painful back injury.
AIG became suspicious of Rahman’s claims after the firm was contacted by his insurer,
Zurich. Police said
Zurich held the victim accountable for the accident but the victim provided a different account of the accident.
AIG investigated the incident by obtaining CCTV footage, and the case was forwarded to the Insurance Fraud Enforcement Department (IFED).
Police showed Rahman the CCTV footage on 5 October. Rahman said he never accused the victim of driving into him and that his insurer and solicitor must have misheard him when he spoke to them on the phone.
Officers obtained telephone recordings, in which Rahman can clearly be heard blaming the victim. Police reinterviewed Rahman on 7 December, and he made a full admission to the false claim.
“The result should act as a stark warning to those who may consider placing a false insurance claim. It simply is not a good idea and there will only be negative consequences as we have clearly seen in the case of Rahman,” said Cambridge.
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