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Mohammed Patel, 24, has been jailed for four-and-a-half years and banned from driving for three-and-a-half years for his part in a "crash for cash scheme". At Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court he pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to defraud, six counts of dangerous driving and four counts of driving while disqualified.
His girlfriend was spared jail only for the sake of her son after admitting converting and possessing stolen property.
It was alleged that Patel charged £500 a time to stage car accidents which enabled fraudsters to claim an average of £17,000 per accident from the insurance industry.
He staged at least 93 accidents, costing the insurance industry £1.6 million and earning himself approximately £46,000.
He charged car owners the money to stage the accidents in their own vehicles thereby opening the way for the owners to put in excessive insurance claims.
He would drive their vehicles at slow speed and then brake suddenly, causing the vehicle behind to drive into the vehicle he was driving. His car owner customers, who were not present at the time of the crashes, would often claim there were additional passengers in the car, all of whom would claim for personal injury, and invent extra vehicle damage and claim excessive hire and storage charges.
Patel would often target elderly female motorists who were driving alone as he thought they would not make a fuss and accept liability.
Patel arranged the crashes early every day for three years, and the scam was only discovered when office workers overlooking one of his regular crash locations became suspicious and alerted the authorities.
Due to the cost to the insurance industry, estimated now to be in the region of £350 million a year having risen from £200 million year in 2006, the Insurance Fraud Bureau has been set up to combat this type of fraud.
However, it is not only the insurance industry which suffers. The victims of these scams may have been injured themselves, faced losing their no claims bonus and paying their policy excess. If they were only insured third party fire and theft they will probably have had to pay for the damage to their own vehicles. Finally, the cost of the scam would eventually have been passed onto the ordinary law abiding motorist at an approximate additional amount of £49 on every motorist's premium.
