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7th September 2006
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

iding with conmen

Every driver dreads being involved in an accident -but it seems many crashes are not accidents at all. Bridget Carter reports on a scam costing a lot of operators a lot of money.

In 15 years ass professional driver David Lloyd had not been involved in a single accident. His boss describes him as one of the most diligent and conscientious truck drivers in the business.

But on 21 October 2003 Lloyd was allegedly tricked into ploughing into the back of a dark car on a roundabout so the two fraudsters inside the vehicle could claim hundreds of pounds of compensation. The crash not only ruined his accident-free record, it cost his firm, Stoke-based Barry Proctor Services,a fortune in higher insurance premiums "It upset me a bit because it was the first accident I've had in 15 years of driving," says Lloyd. "The boss says it adds L25,000 on the insurance.That makes me feel bad—I wanted to do a good job for the company."

His situation is not unusual — hundreds of other truck drivers have been targeted by criminals out to make a quick buck with fraudulent insurance claims.

Lloyd was caught out as he exited the M61 at Junction 6 en route from Bolton to Wigan with a load of tiles..As he rolled onto the roundabout he looked to the right to see if there was anything approaching.When he returned his gaze to the front, it was already too late.. Lloyd explains: "You can see for miles from the roundabout. I looked to my right and there was nothing coming. The car in front was pulling off, so I looked to my right again and went to accelerate. But the car had stopped and there was nothing at all in front of it. I went straight into the back of it and put a big 'V' in its boot."

After the crash

The two men in the car climbed from their vehicle and started shouting at Lloyd.

"I got out of the cab and they saw that! was a big guy, so they shut up," he recalls The two men asked for his insurance company details and the details of his employer. They were on the phone to the insurance company the same day. The claim they made was for whiplash injuries; Barry Proctor Services' insurance firm is still fighting the case through the courts Alan Burley, owner of Sheffield-based fleet insurer Burley Group, reports that what happened to Lloyd has happened to every one of his haulage customers He claims that one of the country's leading logistics firms has had at least 35 cases. "Without a doubt they have all been a victim," he says "It's the biggest single problem we've got."

Burley explains that this scam has been a problem for about 10 years — which prompts the question, why have the fraudsters been getting away with it for so long? The reason they succeed is because they only make small claims, usually of a few hundred pounds,so it is not worth the time or money involved in challenging them.

"It's more expensive to fight it than to pay," says Burley. "A lot of criminals know this,so they put in claims just under a certain limit."

Typical gang The .bad lads', as Burley describes them, are typified by a gang operating in London as part of a £4m insurance fraud. A recent police sting operation caught gang members who used two cars to force a truck to slam into the back of one of the vehicles. Other cases have been recorded on the A4, M4, the A406 North Circular and the A316 between Chiswick and Mortlake.

One woman was forced into the gang to take part in the crashes involving speeds of up to 70mph, according to The Evening Standard; she described it as like "waiting for your own funeral. We must go at high speeds, then slam on the brakes in front of the targeted lorry. It's like a had dream."

For operators, drivers and insurance companies, this nightmare is not going to disappear any time soon but the insurance companies are fighting back.

Burley, for example, has developed a scheme For all his clients with fleets of 10 or more. Drivers are issued with disposable cameras with which to take photos right after a crash to produce as evidence in court.

The driver then posts the camera, with the date of the accident, the name of the driver and the vehicle's registration, to the insurer's claims department.

When the fraudsters claim compensation for non-existent whiplash injuries suffered by the car's 'four occupants', a photo can prove there was only one person in the vehicle and it was struck from the side.

"The claims just go away when we've got photographic evidence,Burley concludes. "It's no good these days to say it isn't your fault you have to prove it.

Burley is the first to admit this procedure will not stop the scams, "but it has certainly got the premiums down.The point is that we're saving the client a lot of money." •


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