More Peterborough drivers come forward to report gang of men targeting city motorists in '˜crash for cash' insurance fraud

The Peterborough Telegraph reported yesterday, Tuesday April 4, on a gang of drivers deliberately causing crashes with lone women motorists as part of an insurance scam.

Now a number of women have shared their experiences on the Peterborough Telegraph Facebook page, signalling how widespread the issue is.

Elizabeth Parkins wrote: “Thanks for highlighting this. There was an attempt to ram my car at Maskew Avenue roundabout on Sunday by group of men in dark blue car, fortunately they didn’t succeed.

“I didn’t understand what was happening at first, thought they were bad drivers, rather than a deliberate scam.”

Kim Calera said: “This happened to my hubby the other day as well. They kept slamming on their brakes and hubby knew exactly what they were trying to do!

“With children in the car as well, these fools are not only committing fraud, they’re endangering lives and scaring children!”

Mrs Harris said: “This happened to me on Monday, on the Thorney Bypass.

“It was a dark blue car with at least four foreign looking men in it. It happened around 5.40pm. The car came around the first roundabout as approaching Thorney, obviously not a lot of traffic generally comes right around that roundabout, but that’s when I noticed the passengers.

“I then carried on over that roundabout onto the bypass. At the next roundabout I was turning left, he appeared to be going straight on, looked right, nothing was coming so he entered the roundabout. I looked right again, it was still clear so I started to enter the roundabout and he slammed his breaks on. I slammed mine on just in time thankfully.

“I was shaken and was too busy asking my children in the back if they were ok. It all happened so quickly. But then the car moved on and I carried on my way home, which thankfully wasn’t far.”

The police do not typically handle these types of issues because they are considered insurance fraud, and are therefore primarily managed by the insurance companies. The police advised motorists involved in these types of accidents to use their phone to capture as much photographic evidence as possible, providing it is safe to do so. They also recommended fitting a dashboard video camera. If you believe you are a victim of a cash for crash the police advise reporting the incident to them, alerting your insurer at the earliest opportunity, and checking they will not automatically pay out a claim without an investigation. More information can be found at https://www.insurancefraudbureau.org. The Insurance Fraud Bureau works with insurers and the police to identify where the trends are. You can also report incidents to the Insurance Fraud Bureau, either confidentially or completely anonymously, 24/7, by calling 0800 4220421.