1:23pm Thursday 28th May 2009
By Tyrone Marshall
GANGS who stage car crashes in a bid to rip off insurers remain prevalent in Blackburn, despite the town being knocked off the top of a league table.
Research by the Insurance Fraud Bureau (IFB) places the town second in the country for the number of ‘crash for cash’ incidents.
Figures released in December 2006 put Blackburn as the worst place in the country for the staged ‘accidents’, but that honour now falls to Bradford.
The IFB says activity has fallen in Blackburn as a result of joint working between themselves and the police, while nationally ‘crash for cash’ incidents have reduced by 11per cent over the past two years.
Sgt Mick Young, at the Blackburn road policing unit, said: “I don’t think we have a problem with staged accidents here. I wouldn’t say it was worse than anywhere else.
“We do take any incidents very seriously though. If we don’t believe it is an accident, then we will fully investigate it.”
‘Crash for cash’ scams usually involve fraudsters driving to busy road junctions and then performing unexpected, unnecessary and dangerous emergency stops designed to cause innocent members of the public to crash into them.
John Beadle, chairman of the IFB, said: “The criminal gangs targeting honest motorists are ruthless.
“Innocent lives are being put at risk and fraudulent insurance claims add approximately £40 to every premium paid by honest policy holders each year.”
Since its formation in July 2006, the bureau has been instrumental in helping the police to make almost 300 arrests of people who were trying to defraud insurers.
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