Crash for cash foiled as trio are sentenced
CUNNING crashfor-cash fraudsters used a kind gesture to make a false insurance claim.
Zahir Ali, 23, was driving in Rochdale when he waved to a woman to allow her to pull out of a junction in front of him.
Police said as she moved onto the road he deliberately drove his vehicle into the victim’s car at low speed near where Yorkshire Street meets Halifax Road.
The damage caused was minimal and witnesses confirmed that Zahir Ali was the only person in his car at the time. He left the scene of the crash alone.
Following the crash, Zahir Ali contacted a vehicle recovery company and a solicitors firm was also contacted.
He showed photographs of the damage to his car to the owner of the recovery company.
The owner decided the car was not roadworthy and arranged for it to be recovered to an industrial unit.
An assessment of the damage by a representative of the Institute of Motoring Industry found that Zahir Ali’s car had sustained damage after the collision on November 16, 2016 which had caused it to become immobile.
Zahir Ali submitted injury claims to the solicitors firm for himself, as well as Ahsan Ali and Hussnain Ali on their behalf. At a medical appointment on January 7, 2017, Zahir Ali and Ahsan Ali each claimed to be suffering from back pain.
Hussnain Ali attended a medical examination on February 22, 2017 and claimed to be suffering from shoulder and neck pain. The doctor felt that these injuries were all consistent with a car crash. He recommended further examination by an orthopaedic surgeon as well as six sessions of physiotherapy each.
But in June last year The City of London Police’s Insurance Fraud Enforcement Department was alerted by insurers Hastings Direct about suspicions involving the crash as witnesses said there was only one person in the car.
All three men were then interviewed by police in August 2017.
At Manchester Crown Court in Minshull Street, they were sentenced for conspiring to deliberately cause a crash in order to claim for injuries and vehicle damage.
The three men were sentenced for conspiring to deliberately cause a crash in order to make a claim.
Zahir Ali, 23, of Albion Road, Rochdale, was sentenced to 12 months in prison, suspended for two years, and given 100 hours’ community service. Ahsan Ali, 24, of Durham Road, Bradford, and Hussnain Ali, 30, of Violet Street, Halifax, were both sentenced to six months in prison, suspended for two years and given 70 hours’ community service.
All three men were also ordered to pay £250 each in court costs.
Detective Constable Kevin Hughes, of City of London Police, said: “Zahir Ali took a kind gesture and used it to create a crash that only served his own greed and that of Ahsan and Hussnain Ali. Insurance fraud is not a victimless crime.
“When people commit insurance fraud, it drives up insurance premiums for all consumers as fraud costs the insurance industry money.”
Paul Priestly, director of counter-fraud at Hastings Direct, said: “We are committed to protecting honest customers and we are therefore very happy with the decision of the court.
“Fraudsters should see this as a clear message that we will take all appropriate action to pursue and deter their actions.”