Axa exposes two crash-for-cash cases after fundamentally dishonest evidence was given

In the first case, Consantine and Romanu Barbu had their car insurance claim dismissed after dashcam footage revealed that they had deliberately staged an accident with an Axa-insured vehicle, Birmingham Crown Court head.

The couple submitted a combined claim for more that £80,000, claiming for personal injury, storage, recovery and credit hire charges.

Despite living in Birmingham, the Barbus insisted on using a London-based recovers, storage and credit hire firm and claimed to have suffered a range of symptoms caused by the accident including anxiety, depression and panic attacks.

The judge found the injuries to be exaggerated, and there was no record of the duo seeking medical attention at the time of the crash.

The couple were ordered to pay costs but these are yet to be determined by the court.

"We have a duty to protect our customers and our shareholders from fraud using all legal channels at our disposal to do so and these two successes are yet another example of that in action," said Tom Wilson, counter fraud manager at Axa Insurance.

In the second case, taxi driver Choudry Majid Ali withdrew his claim of £15,000 after claiming to be involved in an accident with a refuse truck insured by Axa.

Both drivers claimed the accident had been caused by the other, while the refuse truck driver disputed the identity of the driver and believed the independent witness was not present at the time of the crash, Bradford County Court heard.

Ali was unable to confirm whether he was driving the vehicle at the time and was not familiar with his own statement and had to ask his lawyer on several occasions what his words meant.

The court found that it still had enough evidence to find the claimant had been fundamentally dishonest, despite Ali withdrawing his claim.

Ali was ordered by the court to pay out £11,097.94 in costs.

"We are very pleased that, once again, we have been able to use the fundamental dishonesty defence to protect our policyholders and ourselves from fraudulent claims," said Wilson.

"Axa was one of the first insurers to successfully use this defence and the courts' increasing willingness to accept the defence and find for fundamental dishonesty is hugely encouraging."