‘Back injury’ builder caught out over his £500,000 claim
A BUILDER who tried to claim £500,000 for a work injury that he said left him confined to bed was caught out walking, shopping and carrying his daughter on his shoulders, a court heard.
Perry Scott, 45, had made insurance claims for two small falls from a window-height scaffolding platform and a ladder. He claimed the accidents had left him unable to work and in so much back pain that he was “15 per cent of the person he used to be”.
Scott told medical experts that after the accidents he spent his days in bed or on the sofa and was no longer able to take his children to the park. But surveillance photographs later showed him walking, shopping and carrying his daughter on his shoulders.
Witnesses also gave evidence of one incident where Scott, of Gorleston, Norfolk, had helped to carry a large metal girder.
After a three-day trial at Great Yarmouth County Court last month, Recorder Gibbons found that Scott was a “fundamentally dishonest” claimant.
He ordered Scott to repay £13,000 paid to him by insurer Aviva and made an enforceable order against him for indemnity costs, likely to exceed £150,000.
The judgment came after the court heard that Scott’s wife had told neighbours about how the couple intended to spend the money now that “Perry doesn’t want to work again”. Medical experts dismissed Scott’s claims about the extent and severity of his injuries.
One said that Scott’s falls in 2015 and 2016 had not caused or materially affected his alleged back pain.
In his judgment, Recorder Gibbons said: “I am left with the impression that he might actually believe some of his own arguments.”
Neil Southern, of law firm Clyde & Co LLP, who was instructed by Aviva, said: “Mr Scott lied about the accident circumstances, lied about the injuries he’d sustained and lied about their impact on his life.”