Terrifying moment driver swerves in front of lorry in 'cash for crash' scam which costs every driver £90 in insurance premiums

• Video of alleged crash for cash con shows driver swerving into lorry's path
• Lorry cannot stop and drags car for hundreds of yards down motorway
• In scheme, driver would then claim for a bogus insurance payout
  
• Increase in staged crashes and false claims saw 18 per cent rise in fraud
  
• Total of 118,500 bogus or exaggerated claims were detected last year
  

By Ray Massey for the Daily Mail and Chris Pleasance

Published: 00:06 EDT, 30 May 2014 | Updated: 03:08 EDT, 2 June 2014

A terrifying video has emerged showing a driver swerving into the path of a lorry as part of an alleged crash for cash scam.

Insurance chiefs say such schemes, in which criminals stage accidents in order to claim money for bogus injuries, are costing legitimate motorists £90 each on their premiums

In the clip, believed to be filmed somewhere along the M1 motorway, a car can be seen moving alongside the lorry in a merge lane, before swerving out in front of the truck.

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The car then ends up stuck to the lorry's bonnet as the driver tries to pull over on to the hard shoulder. Fake crash schemes similar to this are said to add £90 to drivers' insurance premiums

In the clip, caught on the driver's dashcam, the car pulls alongside as if going to merge with the traffic

But instead of moving into lane, the car sits on the inside of the lorry driver dangerously close to his front bumper

The lorry driver's Smart Witness dash camera captures the moment the car is turned sideways and dragged along the motorway before finally stopping.

An increase in staged crashes and false whiplash claims helped fuel an 18 per cent rise in insurance fraud last year that cost a record £1.3billion.

Nearly two thirds of this was paid out to motoring claimants – with the equivalent of 164 crash scams being exposed every day.

But insurance chiefs warn the true figures could be much higher because the figures only relate to detected levels of insurance fraud.

The ‘slam on’ scam is common, where a driver brakes suddenly at a roundabout or junction, causing the innocent driver behind to crash into the vehicle.

In many cases, the first car is filled with passengers, who all claim for exaggerated whiplash injuries, and the fraudsters also claim for the cost of repair or replacement of their vehicle on the innocent driver’s insurance.

As the merge lane runs out, the car pulls into the inside lane, touching bumpers with the lorry and spinning

The car then ends up stuck to the lorry's bonnet as the driver tries to pull over on to the hard shoulder. Fake crash schemes similar to this are said to add £90 to drivers' insurance premiums

It is hard for insurers to contest claims for whiplash as doctors diagnose the condition based on symptoms described by the patient.

Other motorists who have genuinely been involved in an accident are being encouraged to submit inflated claims by lawyers whose hefty bills make the insurance industry’s costs even higher.

The above incident was filmed on a camera made by camera company SmartWitness.

A spokesman for the company said: 'This is a real problem. Blame is nearly always attached to the driver who hits the vehicle from the rear, and it costs honest, law-abiding motorists a fortune in increased premiums'.

An Association of British Insurers report reveals a total of 118,500 bogus or exaggerated insurance claims were detected last year and almost half were for motoring claims.

It concludes: ‘Fraudulent motor insurance claims were the most expensive and common, with the number of dishonest claims at 59,900 – up 34 per cent on 2012 – and their value at £811million, up 32 per cent’.

The ABI calculates such bogus claims cost each of us an extra £90 a year on our motor insurance.

The damning report details the huge rise in organised ‘crash for cash’ scams. In one case 60 people were convicted of staging an accident which involved more than £514,000 being claimed from 25 different crashes.

Last week a bus company axed a busy route after it fell victim to ‘crash for cash’ fraudsters 15 times in two years.

Whiplash claims alone now cost the industry more than £2.2billion a year accounting for eight out of ten personal injury claims after an accident. Britain has been branded ‘the whiplash capital of Europe’ by insurance experts and MPs.

In May 2012 the Competition Commission launched an investigation into car insurance costs after the Office of Fair Trading said the market was ‘dysfunctional’.

That same month the Government  cracked down on ‘no-win-no-fee’ law firms by slashing the fees they could earn by ‘ambulance chasing’.

In July last year, the Commons transport select committee ordered insurance firms whose practices encourage motorists to make fraudulent and exaggerated whiplash claims to ‘get their house in order’.