AA urges police forces to crackdown on whiplash scams
It has been revealed that the AA wishes police forces nationwide to adopt a similar scheme that has been launched by the Metropolitan Police to target ‘cash for crash’ insurance cons.
The Metropolitan Police force has established a specialist team to train officers to watch out for signs of suspicious crashes that could be staged car accidents, in an attempt to file a whiplash claim and access a payout.
Therefore, with personal injury claims increasing due to the financial downturn, more police taking on the initiative could help a lot.
Simon Douglas from the group welcomed the programme, stating: “Only recently a man from the north-west of England was jailed for causing more than 90 ‘crash for cash’ collisions resulting in £1.9 million in fraudulent insurance claims.
“I’m certain that with better surveillance and co-ordination between insurers and police, that orgy of crime could have been stopped earlier. Similar specialist units in other police forces could better protect drivers throughout the UK from such activity.”
He added: “Initiatives such as that from the Metropolitan Police are to be applauded and I hope it is taken up by all police forces.”
It is thought that such scams are usually staged at low speed and at difficult junctions such as intersections and roundabouts. Usually the tail lights of the vehicle have been deactivated to increase the chance of a rear-end collision.
“The fraudster subsequently makes claims for personal injury (usually whiplash) from his passengers who may not have been in the vehicle at all. The hapless victim, meanwhile, has to suffer the inconvenience of getting his car repaired and is likely to lose his excess and no-claim bonus,” Douglas pointed out.
According to ABI figures, detected fraudulent claims amounted to £730 million in 2008 with up to £1.9bn getting away, adding around £44 to the average cost of every insurance policy. The AA noticed a 30% rise in 2009 in different types of claims.
Injury report
The AA has stated its delight with a new report, which shows that road accidents have decreased. However, the group said that the actual number of people killed or injured on the roads could be three times higher than stated in the report.
AA President Edmund King stated: “The suggestion that the real number of people injured on the road could be over three times the number recorded shows the enormity of the road safety problem, even at a time when deaths are reducing significantly.
“Modern techniques may allow improvements in collecting data in the future, but arguments about the true size of the injury problem should not hide road death figures down to one third of those in 1966, and half those in 1990?.
“The death figures continue to show high levels relating to drink driving, motorcycling, young drivers and distraction. We also need more information on the true scale of the drug driving problem”, King added.
Updated on 07/12/2009