A thoughtless motorist who careered over three lanes of traffic and swerved in front of a lorry driver has had their claim for four whiplash settlements exposed as fraud thanks to a dashboard camera.
The lorry's on-board device, made by Smart Witness, captured the incident on the M25, and showed a driver in a Ford Galaxy drift into the slow lane of the motorway and cause the blameless lorry driver to brake suddenly. The lorry hit the car, and the four occupants inside all filed for whiplash claims totalling £75,000.
However, their insurance claim fell apart when the lorry driver released the footage of the accident, which showed he was not responsible for the prang.
Scams involving personal injury claims are on the rise; according to The AA, since 2006, there has been a 60% increase in personal injury claims. However, accidents on UK roads have fallen by 20% over the past eight years.
These fraudulent scams are an issue for insurance industries, as fake ‘cash for crash’ scams are adding up to £90 to the average UK policy.