A motor accident claims firm owner has been jailed for claiming insurance through scam crashes

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Asif Mallu a claims company owner who made thousands of pounds by claiming series of car accident insurance was described by a judge as ‘outrageous’.

Mallu headed a business which was responsible for inflated claims for compensation after a team of hired drivers were paid £500 a time to stage a string of car crashes.

In a span of three years one cowboy driver had staged a total of 93 road smashes by unexpectedly slamming the brakes at roundabouts so innocent motorists following had no chance of avoiding crashing into the back of him.

The shocked motorists were then sued through accident claims firms for damages and injuries for an average £17,000 a time.

Convicted robber Mallu had run claims Management Company 24/7 Direct Claims based inBolton, Greater Manchester, which earned fees for referring people involved in car accidents to solicitors. A court was told he created false invoices to support bogus claims for vehicle recovery, storage and repair after a number of car crashes.

He also represented fraudulent claimants in support of personal injury claims. The scam which involved another accident claims firm was the biggest of its kind inBritain.

Mallu, from Halliwell, inBolton, was the last man to face trial over the scam, and he pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit fraud and was jailed for 21 months.

Passing sentence at Minshull Street Crown Court, Manchester, Judge Bernard Lever said that it was a particularly serious fraud which has become something of a public scandal.

He added that millions of pound of motorists money and their exaggerated premiums were involved and the culprit had bought into a scandalous fraud spanning across the country.

He told Mallu that people who got in crash for cash scam would to prison as it was very complex process to bring people like him to justice. He described it as an outrageous behaviour which caused a rise in premium of every single motorist.

Judge said that though Mallu was not driving and crashing but was involved in pursuing the claims arising of such scam crashes which encouraged such crimes.

The scam was uncovered in 2005 when workers at an office block overlooking a roundabout on the A34 near Cheadle, Greater Manchester, spotted the same driver being involved in various low speed crashes of a striking similarity. AXA insurance, one of the companies affected by the scam, investigated a number of the claims and alerted police in 2008.

The driver Mohammed Patel, then 24, was involved in five different smashes at the same roundabout plus another 88 across the North of England. He was found to have earned at least £46,000 from his frauds. He was subsequently jailed for four and a half years.

Reports from an engineer showed the insurance claims for damage and whiplash were exaggerated and in some cases totally made up.

Defending Mallu his motoring law solicitor said that he had a troublesome childhood and was a black sheep of the family so was disregarded. But he was a different man now she added.