Big Expose Of Accident Claims Firms In Today's Sunday Times

[mikey4444]

I can't post a ful link I'm afraid but this will give a taster ::::

http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/news/uk_news/National/article1577228.ece

The paper put an undercover reporter into Complete Claims Solutions, to expose the sharp practice that they operate under.

The statistics on fraudulent claims in Britain is staggering. For instance, in Britain, 80% of motor injury claims involve whiplash, where in France this only amounts to 3% !

Another interesting statistic is that 81% of people who have registered with the Telephone Preference Service ( TPS ) still get unsolicited marketing calls ! I have said in the past that the TPS is a useless paper tiger, and it seems that I am right.

As well as the nuisance value of all these horrible cold calls that we all complain about, the cost to all of us in higher motor insurance premiums is directly affected by fraudulent claims for injuries.

[woofgang]

TPS can only do so much mikey
"We are aware that in recent months there has been a rise in the number of unsolicited calls being received by people registered on the TPS. These calls mainly from companies that deliberately ignore the law and either hide or disguise their identity. They might withhold the number they are calling from or display a fake number. They sometimes use generic sounding names that cannot be used to accurately identify an organisation . Solar Panels UK, PPI Claims Ltd etc or they may refuse to give you any details at all. Understandably this makes contacting these companies or targeting them for enforcement extremely difficult or even impossible."

and about the "big expose" I mean are we really surprised?

[mikey4444]

It seems that CCS is already well known by consumer groups ::::

http://whocallsme.com/Phone-Number.aspx/01273315777

http://www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?t=100466

[mushroom25]

insurance fraud = big business. this particular scammer has featured on BBC midlands today, and in the relevant local press:-
http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/cars/article-3147443/Sinister-crash-cash-scam-rise-people-demand-money.html

[KARL]

This is just another way the UK closely follows (admires ?) US practices and their example/lead in general. Metaphorically one might say that the UK sits just out of sight off the Eastern Shore of Virginia and well away from the European mainstream.

[Sqad]

Simple mikey........dodgy doctors as expert witnesses for dodgy lawyers..........has been going on for decades.

A doctor can get £200 for a biased medical report and the more he does it, the more the Law Fim will send him.

Big money for particularly Orthopaedic surgeons and Accident Consultants.

[Gromit]

TPS only works on calls from the UK. The technology is there to route calls from abroad, therefore by-passing UK legislation. So it is not much use.

Exaggerating injuries such as whiplash works because it is cheaper for the insurance companies to pay up than investigate claims.

There is no incentive in the whole system for anyone to change anything.

[mikey4444]

Woofy....the TPS should stop crying crocodile tears and get on with the job that was given to them. In the case of CCS, this company has been in business for years, and the TPS should start getting serious.

Cold calling is making peoples lives hell here in Britain, and its getting worse, not better. Even if all of us registered with the TPS, it wouldn't make a bit of difference to the amount of nuisance calls that we get.

[hc4361]

I think whiplash should be an acceptable risk of motoring, whether as a driver or a passenger in car, bus, van, lorry, tram so that whiplash by itself can't be claimed for.

[anotheoldgit]

Have you asked Gromit if the Sunday Times are withholding this information from the authorities?

[mikey4444]

Sqad.... if what you say is true, and I have no reason to doubt you, then the rot is set deeper than we realise. Just to reiterate....we are all paying more for our motor insurance because of this fraudulent practice, so its in everybody's interest for it to be sorted out.

Gromit....I appreciate what you say but CCS operates from within the UK, not abroad, so I can see no reason why the TPS can't deal with it more robustly.

[Gromit]

it could be worse :-)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_NyTWmQ1veg

[mushroom25]

my company received a solicitor's letter this week, on instruction of a contract worker who was on one of our sites in the summer of 2013. allegedly he was required to operate unfamiliar machinery on which he received only 5mn training; he then mishandled the machinery which threw him off and injured him.

the company can verify he was on site on the day of the alleged incident, but there's no record of any incident at that site on that day; the type of incident that occurred is notifiable to a government agency and the injured party would know that. there's no way something like that can be covered up since there are too many individuals involved for a conspiracy to be enacted.

scam. pure and simple.

[Gromit]

Don't be daft AOG. This is about minor frauds not national security.

[Svejk]

Was it a shovel, mushroom?

[mushroom25]

//was it a shovel//

no - it was a specialised piece of lifting and transportation equipment.

[retrocop]

Gromit
Hardly minor frauds. 45 a day averted totaling potentially £300,000 in claims.
I won't mention the particular ethnicity of the major scam gangs in the UK but fraud is their stock in trade.
http://www.independent.co.uk/money/insurance/bumper-ripoff--crash-for-cash-gangs-in-huge-car-insurance-scam-9289335.html

[Gromit]

Retrocop,

I did not say the problem was minor, I said the individual frauds were minor. If organised gangs and ripping off the system on an industrial scale, and if the Sunday had information on those gangs, then it is their duty to inform the police as soon as possible.

[retrocop]

£2 billion a year and £90 added on our insurance cover. That is the cost of this "minor fraud" !!!!
http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/332910/30-in-bus-cry-whiplash-in-cash-for-crash-scam

If that is minor what is major fraud. I would like £90 reduction on my car insurance premium.

[Gromit]

I am reminded of the 25 seat EDL minibus involved in a minor bump. In the true British tradition that they espouse, 78 claims for whiplash were recieved :-)

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1341692/English-Defence-League-claim-78-got-whiplash-crash--25-coach.html

[retrocop]

That would be just over 3 vertebrae each. :-)