The Place

Birmingham named worst city for crash for cash claims

Tom Gardiner, head of fraud at Aviva, said: "Induced accidents now account for nearly half of all organised motor fraud we detect.

"Crash for cash does not just push up premiums for genuine customers, it puts innocent motorists at risk.

"It is also a significant drain on scarce public resources such as ambulance, police and A&E time, all of which are wasted on these entirely bogus claims."

The insurer said the problem could also be moving to new areas after some postcodes in Worcester, Margate and Leicester were found to be hotspots.