'Crash for cash' driver jailed
22 October 2009
A Bolton conman who staged at least 93 "crash for cash" road accidents in three years gave no thought to his innocent victims, a judge has said.
Mohammed Patel, 24, charged fraudsters £500 a time to set up crashes enabling them to claim an average of £17,000 - costing the insurance industry £1.6m.
Patel, who would slam on his brakes so drivers behind him would plough into his car, gave everyone involved the details of his contacts, allowing them to claim for vehicle damage and injuries.
He generated his contacts thousands and propelled himself and his unemployed girlfriend into the high life.
Patel was jailed for four and a half years and banned from driving for three and a half years.
Stressing that his crimes were not victimless, Judge Bernard Lever at Manchester's Minshull Street Crown Court, told him: "The wickedness of these staged accidents is that you gave no thought to the victim.
"The victim may have been an elderly person, a person with a heart condition, a person of a nervous disposition."
Patel, of Nottingham Drive, Bolton, was caught out by eagled-eyed Bovis Homes workers who saw him stage two crashes outside their premises on the A34 in Cheadle Hulme, near Manchester.
His single-mother partner, Ettorina Hay, 29, of Kirkby Road, Bolton, admitted converting criminal property and possessing criminal property.
She will be sentenced on December 18 and faces a maximum seven year stretch.
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