Compensation scam uncovered
Posted: September 30, 2014
Posted in: Car Accidents Road Traffic Accidents Whiplash Injuries
A whiplash scam was recently uncovered after a lorry’s on-board video footage was released, showing that the car swerved out in front of the lorry intentionally. The driver of the car filled out four whiplash claims for the individual passengers, totalling £75,000, following the supposed ‘accident’. The lorry’s on-board footage, however, clearly shows the Ford Galaxy swerving across three lanes of traffic on the M25 to be hit by the HGV.
The managing director of the camera-provider, Simon Marsh, said that there had been a huge growth in demand for these cameras as fake whiplash claims continue to be a growing problem for lorry drivers. They have seen a 40% increase in sales in the last year alone.
“Whiplash capital of the world”
In the UK, around 550,000 whiplash claims are filed every year. Insurance experts, however, believe that around 60% of these are in fact scams, totaling around £1billion per annum. These scandalous figures have led to the UK being labeled the “whiplash capital of the world”.
The AA said that since 2006 the number of reported road traffic accidents in the UK has fallen by 20%, yet there has been a 60% rise in the number of personal injury claims.
Mr Marsh, from SmartWitness, said: “This is a real problem, particularly for hauliers and fleet managers who are running large numbers of vehicles and could be targeted by these fraudsters every week”.
If you have suffered an injury in a road traffic accident, and are looking to claim compensation, please contact us.
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