FRAUDS SUSPECTED

Dominion, Volume 28, Issue 121, 15 February 1935, Page 11

FRAUDS SUSPECTED

Faked Motor Accidents OCCURRENCES IN BRITAIN Dominion Special Service—By Air Mail. London, January 12. British motor insurance companies are convinced that thejf pay out thousands of pounds a year in compensation for accidents which have been caused deliberately. But it is only occasionally that they are able to confirm their suspicions. < There have been proved cases of pedestrians deliberately walking in front of motor-cars to receive slight injuries and in the hope of securing generous compensation. Each time an insurance company receives a claim which gives rise to suspicion, the claimant (if nothing can be proved) is put on a “black list.” Every insurance company is warned, and future claims are carefully investigated. ’ The-“black lists” ot the insurance companies are growing steadily. Mere rigid investigation of all claims is being made, and a further tightening up of inquiry methods has resulted from a mysterious ease near Windsor the other day, when an unknown man and woman were killed by a car. The driver of the car in this ease said that the man deliberately pushed the woman in front of the car. Another motorist, said that last May the same woman (he identified her body) pushed a man in front of his car and demanded money in compensation.

The police, who are still trying to establish the identity of the couple, know them to have been vagrants who tramped between the south coast and the Scottish border, and believe that the woman, at least, had carried on a fake accident “racket” for years.

Sir Stenson Cooke, secretary of the Automobile Association, has brought forward another remarkable example. “We had many complaints some time ago about a man who travelled around tlie country preying on motorists,” he said. “He would lie in the road feigning unconsciousness when he saw a car coming, and on, ‘recovering’ would say he had been knocked down. We could prove nothing against him, but we issued a warning to every road scout to watch for hint.” There was another case some time ago in which a man walked in front of a car and was slightly injured. The case was carefully investigated and it was found that the same man, using different names, had obtained substantial eompansation from other companies.