While navigating a roundabout, their Nissan was hit by another car. After pulling off the roundabout, the other driver blamed the pensioner for the accident; he then called the police on his mobile phone and accused the pensioner of racial abuse.
Initially neither they nor the police realised that the collision was caused by staged accident crooks who milked insurers of hundreds of thousands of pounds from over 700 deliberate crashes; the claims of racism were just a smokescreen to deflect attention from the crash.
Offending drivers deliberately cause a crash, typically by braking suddenly to force an innocent driver to run into the back of them. They then submit an expensive series of claims against the other driver and their insurer.
The car involved in the couple's crash was supposedly in storage for 111 days. But it was tracked by traffic cameras on 13 occasions during this period; investigations found that the average claim was inflated to £17,000.
The elderly couple said “It is so hard to believe that people were sitting down and plotting all this out and that our accident was just a small part of this huge scheme. We are so relieved that it is all over now.”
50plus Insurance recommends these steps are taken following an accident:
- Stop at the scene if there is injury or damage to a person or property, including any vehicle.
- Exchange details including name, address, telephone number, vehicle registration and insurer details.
- Take details of any witnesses.
- Draw a sketch of the incident or take photos of the scene and any damage.
- Call your insurance company and report the accident as soon as possible.
For any car insurance needs call us on 0800 195 8002.
