Men jailed for crash-for-cash insurance scam in Coventry Published duration 10 June 2019

media caption Birmingham 'crash for cash' trio jailed

Three men have been jailed for carrying out a crash-for-cash insurance scam.

Police said their erratic manoeuvre caused a 50mph crash with a driver on an M6 slip road in Coventry.

Mohammed Azam, 47, Husnain Ahmed, 22, and Sufyan Lone, 24, all from Birmingham, each pleaded guilty to fraud by false representation and were jailed.

City of London Police said the men were "solely focused on making a financial gain".

At Birmingham Crown Court, Azam, of Bennetts Road, Alum Rock, and Ahmed, also of Bennetts Road, were each jailed for two years and one month. Lone, of Malthouse Lane, Washwood Heath, was jailed for one year and 10 months.

image copyright City of London Police image caption Mohammed Azam was jailed for two years and one month

Dash-cam footage from the victim's vehicle revealed that two cars in front were driving erratically and close together at junction three southbound on 1 April 2017.

The force's Insurance Fraud Enforcement Department (IFED), which investigates such scams around the country, said the vehicle directly in front then carried out an emergency stop, which caused the collision.

All three men later put in fraudulent personal injury claims for whiplash amounting to £28,161.

Hastings Direct rejected the applications due to dash-cam footage and first-hand accounts from other drivers.

Det Con Kevin Hughes said: "These men were solely focused on making a financial gain and clearly didn't care about endangering the innocent driver they targeted, as well as other drivers in the area.