Claiming 'ghost' passengers in car after accident, crime?
Claiming 'ghost' passengers in car after accident, crime?
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Discussion

TimS996

Original Poster:

84 posts

232 months

Tuesday 13th September 2016
quotequote all
Can anyone tell me if it is a crime, and under which law, to claim phantom passengers in a car following a car accident?

TP who recently wrote our family car off recently when not checking his blind spot, has suddenly decided he had a car load of mates and has filed insurance and injury claims for them all.

My insurance company has already got it down as fraudulent, but this will drag on for a lot longer.

Tom_C76

1,923 posts

218 months

Tuesday 13th September 2016
quotequote all
As you seem to have realised this would be insurance fraud.

ZOLLAR

19,920 posts

203 months

Tuesday 13th September 2016
quotequote all
TimS996 said:
Can anyone tell me if it is a crime, and under which law, to claim phantom passengers in a car following a car accident?

TP who recently wrote our family car off recently when not checking his blind spot, has suddenly decided he had a car load of mates and has filed insurance and injury claims for them all.

My insurance company has already got it down as fraudulent, but this will drag on for a lot longer.
It depends on how far the insurance company want to take it, if it fits the right criteria then they'll refer it to IFED.
If IFED feel the evidence is sufficient and the whole case has been wrapped up in a nice present with a bow on top they'll be knocking on the guys door.

battered

4,088 posts

177 months

Tuesday 13th September 2016
quotequote all
Fraud Act 2006
"Attempting to commit fraud by false representation"

Look here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fraud_Act_2006

Hackney

7,437 posts

238 months

Tuesday 13th September 2016
quotequote all
TimS996 said:
Can anyone tell me if it is a crime, and under which law, to claim phantom passengers in a car following a car accident?

TP who recently wrote our family car off recently when not checking his blind spot, has suddenly decided he had a car load of mates and has filed insurance and injury claims for them all.

My insurance company has already got it down as fraudulent, but this will drag on for a lot longer.
I understand your concern from a wider legal point of view, but in this instance is it something you should concern yourself with? If the accident was his fault surely he'd be claiming from his own insurance and it's up to them to dispute his claim?


TimS996

Original Poster:

84 posts

232 months

Tuesday 13th September 2016
quotequote all
Thanks that what I was looking for.

To make things worse, the **** was driving a Nissan, works for them in Sunderland and claims it is a company car, yet my insurance company cannot seem to get any of this verified! His own insurance co have been giving them the runaround for two weeks, yet the scrote had an accident management company calling me within 48 hours, before he had even reported it to his own insurer or employer!

anonymous-user

84 months

Tuesday 13th September 2016
quotequote all
Just pass it all on to your insurers, it's what you pay them for.

TimS996

Original Poster:

84 posts

232 months

Tuesday 13th September 2016
quotequote all
Hackney said:
I understand your concern from a wider legal point of view, but in this instance is it something you should concern yourself with? If the accident was his fault surely he'd be claiming from his own insurance and it's up to them to dispute his claim?
Fair point, but I am getting phone bombed by calls from claims management companies, my insurance company, doctors, solicitors, investigators.

PurpleMoonlight

22,362 posts

187 months

Tuesday 13th September 2016
quotequote all
I don't get it.

If it's the other parties fault why are their passengers trying to claim off your insurance?

TimS996

Original Poster:

84 posts

232 months

Tuesday 13th September 2016
quotequote all
The other party did 6.5k of damage to our car, writing it off. However, rather than admit liability in what is a pretty straightforward accident, he's trying it on. he's invented passengers in the car, injuries and damage. But rather than give it to his own insurance company as a claim, he seems to think he'll have more luck with a management company, which is why now he looks highly suspect for giving three different versions each time he's been asked about it.

Ultimately it should go away and he'll have to pay up but in the meantime my phone's going 24/7 and as all the numbers are these fake 'local' one used by these sort of companies, I don't know which to answer or ignore.

Hackney

7,437 posts

238 months

Tuesday 13th September 2016
quotequote all
TimS996 said:
The other party did 6.5k of damage to our car, writing it off. However, rather than admit liability in what is a pretty straightforward accident, he's trying it on. he's invented passengers in the car, injuries and damage. But rather than give it to his own insurance company as a claim, he seems to think he'll have more luck with a management company, which is why now he looks highly suspect for giving three different versions each time he's been asked about it.

Ultimately it should go away and he'll have to pay up but in the meantime my phone's going 24/7 and as all the numbers are these fake 'local' one used by these sort of companies, I don't know which to answer or ignore.
Getting to the point where you don't just need to take a photo of the damage you need to video the whole scene. Ridiculous state of affairs. Hope you get it sorted and the phone calls stop.

Bigyoke

152 posts

162 months

Tuesday 13th September 2016
quotequote all
battered said:
Fraud Act 2006
"Attempting to commit fraud by false representation"

Look here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fraud_Act_2006
Close, it's just straight forward s.2 Fraud by False Rep, the predicate offence is complete as soon as someone is exposed to a risk of loss by a lie or a lie is told with the intention of making a gain, irrespective of whether a loss or gain actually occurs.

benjijames28

1,702 posts

122 months

Tuesday 13th September 2016
quotequote all
Sounds like a planned crash for cash to me.


KungFuPanda

4,642 posts

200 months

Tuesday 13th September 2016
quotequote all
What were the accident circumstances?

rambo19

2,963 posts

167 months

Tuesday 13th September 2016
quotequote all
Massive problem in london with the 'innit bruv' types.

I'm a bus driver, we get issued a bump card for if we have an accident, which includes a section asking how many people in the other vehcile.

kowalski655

15,230 posts

173 months

Wednesday 14th September 2016
quotequote all
And I bet your bus gets a LOT fuller after a crash too smile
Problem with a card is that sort will say you didn't fill it in correctly.(although the bus CCTV may help there) As someone said above, now you need pics or film of everything!

anonymous-user

84 months

Wednesday 14th September 2016
quotequote all
This is timely and relevant. Might be worth sending to the other side for them to consider...

http://www.lawgazette.co.uk/news/12-month-sentence...


Aretnap

1,972 posts

181 months

Wednesday 14th September 2016
quotequote all
Hackney said:
If the accident was his fault surely he'd be claiming from his own insurance and it's up to them to dispute his claim?
At a guess, the third party (and/or his supposed passengers) are claiming that the accident was the OP's fault (or the fault of whoever was driving the OP's car). Not uncommon for certain types of accident, ie "He pulled into my lane!", "No I didn't - he pulled into my lane!".

Any independent witnesses, or dashcam footage? Or is the damage clearly only consistent with one version of events?

lee_fr200

5,640 posts

220 months

Wednesday 14th September 2016
quotequote all
can i just say be careful what you say to these management companies i had one ring me every day trying to get me to admit liability in some way they were asking me weird questions about my position on the road etc etc, in the end i told them to fk off as i had a independent witness and i never heard from them again! i did that on my insurance companies advice

austinsmirk

5,597 posts

153 months

Thursday 15th September 2016
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one of our works vans nudged a car in stationary traffic recently. Literally a mark on just the cars bumper.

the car had one female driver and I think 1 or 2 young children in it. must have been a <5 mph incident.

when the insurance claims start, this car suddenly has 5 grown adults in it.

Yep, you've guessed it, this is in Bradford.


It's an endless, typical tale here. A bus driver was recently sentanced for staging such an incident with mutliple passengers (all in on it) on his bus.

The passengers who knew nothing of it, couldn't understand why, when the bus had a low speed nudge, all these other people violently threw themselves on the floor !!

there were even people claiming to have been on the bus, who weren't !