Victims of road accidents who are injured as a result of another person’s negligent driving are entitled to claim compensation for their injuries, financial losses and damage to their property, such as their car if it was damaged in the accident. Insurance policies, which are a legal requirement for all drivers, are in place to pay compensation on the liable driver’s behalf in such circumstances. Unfortunately, in recent years there has been a massive increase in fraudulent insurance claims, in which dishonest motorists intentionally cause accidents, exaggerate injuries and may even invent witnesses to ensure that they win hefty compensation payouts. This practise is, obviously, illegal but is affecting motorists by bumping up the costs they pay for their insurance premiums.
A recent case of a man who tried to make a fraudulent claim for compensation ended with him being sentenced to six months in jail for fraud, which the judge said he hoped would set the example that insurance companies, law firms, the courts and the general public will not tolerate fraudulent compensation claims.
Anjam Shabir claimed to have been involved in an accident in October 2008, yet his report of events did not match with the opinion of an industry expert whose job is to investigate car crash scenes for evidence. In order to reinforce his story, Mr Shabir enlisted his sister and friend to lie and say they had been passengers in the car at the time of the accident. All three then lied to doctors about injuries they claimed to have sustained in an attempt to win up to £25,000 of fraudulent compensation money from the insurers of the other driver, a Mr Steiner who was an illegal immigrant and who has now been deported.
As well as Mr Shabir’s six months in prison, his friend and sister were each ordered to complete 250 hours of unpaid work.
Hopefully, continued efforts by insurers and law firms to fully investigate suspect compensation claims will continue to make life harder for the dishonest motorists who raise the premiums of their honest counterparts as well as hindering the accident claims process for those victims who genuinely need their compensation.