A FAMILY who tried to defraud an insurance company for almost £19,000 have been told they “jumped on the bandwagon” of crash-for-cash claims.

Mohammed Nadeem Chaudry, 43, his wife Shabana Chaudhry, 38, and his brother Nabeel Ghaffar, 24, all of Pickles Lane, Great Horton, were all involved in a fraudulent car crash claim that was purported to have occurred in Little Horton Lane, on October 6, 2014.

Bradford Crown Court heard how, along with another man currently in Slovakia, a policy with insurance firm Go Skippy was set up for a Ford Fiesta, which was then ‘involved in a crash’ with a Toyota Corolla.

Chaudry was alleged to have been driving the car, and told his wife and brother to say they were in the car, and claimed for damage and personal injuries of whiplash and soft tissue damage.

Soheil Khan, prosecuting, said when insurance investigators visited the address on the insurance policy, the woman who lived there said the Slovakian man “had never lived there in the 38 years she had”.

By October 9, Chaudhry and Ghaffar had admitted the claims were false and the crash had been staged. Chaudry also later admitted the claims were false.

If the claims had been successful, they trio would have received £18,863.

Mr Khan said Chaudry “orchestrated” the fraud, and had a “leading role” in the act, which “would impact innocent people whose premiums are affected”.

The court also heard how Chaudry has previous convictions for perverting the course of justice by giving a false name to police when stopped for speeding in 2011, and for drink driving in 2017.

Ilyas Patel, for Chaudry, said the wedding planner was “deeply embarrassed and ashamed” by his actions.

He said the father of five “deeply regrets his moments of madness and stupidity”.

Mr Patel also claimed the family’s plot was “a million miles away from sophisticated crash for cash schemes involving hundreds of thousands of pounds”.

Sentencing, Judge Colin Burn told the family they “went along along with the idea to manufacture a collision, which was all a lie from the start”.

He said at the time of the fraud crash-for-cash schemes were “endemic”, and they had “decided to jump on the bandwagon”.

Chaudry was handed an eight-month jail term, suspended for two years, 280 hours of unpaid work, and pay costs of £800.

Chaudhry and Ghaffar were both ordered to carry out 100 hours of unpaid work.