No Luck For The Irish: Insurance Fiddle Lies Exposed By CCTV After Bus Crash

A mother-of-eight continued lying to insurers and police she was an injured passenger in a parked truck hit by a bus during a bogus whiplash injury claim until shown CCTV evidence the vehicle was unoccupied.

Mary O'Brien, 58, of Swan Road, Baglan, Port Talbot, Wales was in line to received a £1500 to £3500 insurance pay-out when she took advantage of a collision between a London bus and a relative's pick-up during a family trip to the capital.

She pleaded guilty at Hendon Magistrates Court to fraud by false representation on or before January 22, last year, namely claimed to have been a passenger in a VW involved in a traffic collision in Cricklewood Lane, Cricklewood on December 22, 2013.

The court heard a bus operated by Metroline Travel Ltd collided with an unattended parked pick-up truck and the driver remained at the scene until a Mr. John O'Brien identified himself as the owner.

He received compensation for damage to his vehicle, but the next month a personal injury claim was received from Mary O'Brien, claiming she was sitting in the vehicle's passenger seat and suffered whiplash.

An insurance investigation revealed CCTV footage, which proved the pick-up was unoccupied and O'Brien was arrested.

She continued insisting to police she was in the vehicle when it was hit by the bus, only backing down when shown the footage of the accident.

O'Brien told police she expected to receive £500-£1,000 from the claim.

The court heard she is asthmatic, has arthritis, high blood pressure and has suffered three heart attacks in the last three years.

O'Brien, who is married to a part-time scrap-metal dealer, claimed she needed to raise money to fund trips to Ireland to visit her sick mother.

She was conditionally discharged for three years and ordered to pay £85 cost and a £15 victim surcharge.