Three jailed for crash scam

Three men from Rochdale have been sentenced as part of the crash-for-cash insurance fraud scam.

A total of 19 people were sentenced last week after one of the biggest investigations of its kind uncovered the scam.

The man at the heart of the scam, Mohammed Patel, 24, of Nottingham Drive, Bolton, was earlier jailed for 4 1/2 years at Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court.

It is believed Patel was the driver in at least 92 deliberately forced collisions between 2005 and 2008.

Abdul Haque, 27, and Sazadul Haque, 25, both of Gowers Street, Rochdale, and Parves Miah, 27, of Weedon Street, Rochdale pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud insurance companies, between 1 September 2005 and 18 July 2008. They have each been sentenced to six months in jail.

On November 11, 2005, Patel, driving a Toyota Yaris, stopped suddenly at the Eden Point roundabout on the A34 near Cheadle when no traffic was present, forcing a man driving his work van to crash into the back of it.

The man in the work van appeared to be at fault and an insurance claim was submitted.

This Yaris belonged to a man called Abdul Ghafoor, who claimed to be driving at the time of the collision.

An hour after this collision, the same thing happened at the same spot, this time with Patel driving a Mercedes CLK, belonging to Shahid Latif.

The Mercedes was driven from the scene with no visual damage but 10 days later, when an insurance engineer examined the car, it had extensive rear damage. This damage was caused after the collision.

Following this collision, workers from the office block from the Eden Point roundabout confronted Patel and told the lorry driver victim that a very similar collision had just taken place an hour earlier, with the same man driving.

The lorry driver informed his employer’s insurers, and the company started an investigation.

Inquiries found that other similar claims, arising from collisions at the same location, had been made against other insurance companies.

Abdul Ghafoor, 58, of Parkhills Road, Bury, was also sentenced last week to six months in prison after pleading guilty to conspiracy to defraud.

John Beadle, chairman of the Insurance Fraud Bureau, said: “The cost of insurance fraud adds on average £44 to every policyholder’s insurance premium annually.

“We would urge anyone with information on insurance fraud to call the Bureau’s free and confidential Cheatline on 0800-3282550 or report it online at www.insurancefraudbureau.org/report”