Four guilty over 'crash for cash'

A GANG that deliberately crashed a 12 tonne bus with 26 passengers on board as part of a huge "crash-for-cash" scam, has been described as a "a professionally-planned, highly-organised group" by police.

Officers were speaking after four people were found guilty at Sheffield Crown Court of playing a part in a fraud conspiracy worth almost £500,000. Seven other people had already pleaded guilty.

South Yorkshire Police said inquiries began after an apparently routine, minor collision involving a bus and a Vauxhall Zafira in the Burngreave area of Sheffield, on June 17, 2011.

The bus driver, Adam Herbert, was in on the plot.

The force said investigations into claims following the bus crash led to a wider inquiry into the activities of a Sheffield-based accident claims company called City Claims 4 U, run by defendants Mohammed Omar Gulzar and Shoaib Nawaz.

A spokesman said they went on to identify suspects involved in 10 incidents in Halifax, Sheffield and Rotherham.

He said a series of warrants were executed at a number of addresses linked to City Claims 4 U after officers received information that it had been submitting fraudulent claims to insurance companies.

These claims were boosted by false claims for the hiring out of replacement vehicles provided by CCC Hire 4 U - another company owned by Gulzar.

Four people were found guilty of conspiracy to defraud insurance companies between January 1 and July 31, 2011.

They were Gulzar, 31, of Osgathorpe Road, Sheffield; Nawaz, 25, of Earl Marshall Road, Sheffield; Sami Ahmed Selam, 37, of Chester Road, Flint, and Javed Khan, 46, of Nansen Road, Birmingham.

Dc Mark Wootton, who led the investigation, said: "This was a professionally-planned, highly-organised group of individuals who set out to defraud a number of insurance companies by making deliberate false claims and pocketing the money for themselves.

"The fraud involved false claims for personal injury, vehicle damage, over-inflated recovery and storage costs, together with extortionate and false claims for hire vehicles from CCC Hire 4 U, a company owned and run by Mohammed Omar Gulzar."

Officers said they worked closely with the Insurance Fraud Bureau (IFB), a London-based industry organisation, and FirstGroup to identify and gather evidence.

IFB director Ben Fletcher said they are currently investigating more than 90 criminal gangs involved in "crash- for-cash" fraud.

He said: "Scams like this expose the shocking lengths fraudsters go to make money through what they wrongly assume is a victimless crime.

"'Crash-for-cash' costs the insurance industry £392 million per year, but it's honest policyholders who ultimately have their pockets picked by the fraudsters.

"But beyond the financial impact, this is a dangerous crime. Stage managing crashes is reckless. No-one can control that series of events and fraudsters are gambling with the lives of innocent people when they try to do so - particularly when a 12-tonne bus is involved."

By Dave Higgens, Press Association