TWO brothers from Burnley who pocketed almost £2million in one of the country’s largest ‘crash for cash’ scams have today been jailed for a total of 11 years.

Rezwan and Rehan Javed ran the North West Claims Ltd from a small office in Colne Road, Queensgate.

But the siblings were behind a rogue firm which was involved in staging more than 80 fake road smashes, Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court was told.

Rezwan, 34, and Rehan, 36, each of Dovedale Close, were jailed for six and five years respectively after being found guilty of conspiracy to defraud.

Police said they each made £995,915 in profits from the bogus collisions, which took place around Burnley and Manchester.

Judge Bernard Lever also ordered each brother to repay £156,000 within six months – or face an extra 28-month jail time.

The brothers teamed up with gang boss Mohammed Patel, who arranged the crashes, and lodged personal injury compensation claims, expecting their victims’ insurers to pay up.

In October 2008, Patel admitted being the driver in more than 90 staged collisions between 2005 and 2008, all of which led to exaggerated and fraudulent insurance claims.

The claimants would earn compensation for personal injuries and Patel would earn a fee for driving the cars.

The biggest profit, however, went to North West Claims Ltd.

The company took a cut of solicitors' referral fees, courtesy car hire and the cost of storage and recovery of cars involved in the collisions, which on many occasions was not even needed.

Detectives from Greater Manchester Police broke up the scam after launching Operation Contact, in partnership with the Insurance Fraud Bureau.

The Javeds’ role in the racket was exposed when police became suspicious of the number of crashes engineered by Patel on the A34 in Cheadle, Cheshire.

Paperwork held by Patel matched records seized from the North West Claims office and other personal injury files and car documents helped to incriminate them.

The brothers used the same engineer to assess each crashed car – often the level of damage was exagggerated, or simply made up.

The crashes took place between January 2004 and December 2009.

Patel, 26, from Nottingham Drive, Bolton, was jailed for four-and-a-half years for his part in the fraud.

Sergeant Mark Beales, of the Road Crime Unit at Greater Manchester Police, said: "It is clear the Javeds profited significantly from this crime. They made a living from the scam.

"This was a highly organised criminal enterprise under the guise of legitimacy.

"The company was registered under the terms of the Ministry of Justice, they had a visible business premises in Burnley and yet this was all a front for fraud.

"This result sends a clear message to others that if they intend to defraud insurance companies the consequences are severe.

"However, we also want to make it clear that while insurance companies are victims, the innocent drivers involved in these collisions were made to feel as though they were in the wrong."

Glen Marr, Director of the Insurance Fraud Bureau, said: "The industry has invested significantly in tackling organised insurance fraud and as this matter highlights, it will not hesitate to pursue criminal prosecutions."