A BUSY Bolton junction has been named as the site where more bogus crash claims are made than anywhere else in the north of England.

Junction 4 of the M61 in Farnworth has been repeatedly targeted by “crash for cash” fraudsters who have made it the fourth worst place in the UK list of shame.

According to insurance company Direct Line, junction 5 of the M61, for the A58 in Westhoughton, Watergate Lane in Over Hulton and Manchester Road, Bolton, also feature in the top 100. Crash for cash criminals fake accidents by making unnecessary emergency stops at busy roundabouts or slip roads, forcing motorists to crash into them.

They then make fraudulent claims to the driver’s insurer, often with fictitious passengers and injuries. The claims have caused local car insurance premiums to rise by £44 annually and cost honest drivers £350 million nationally each year.

Mohammed Patel, aged 25, of Nottingham Drive, Halliwell, was jailed for four-and-a-half years in 2009 after he deliberately caused at least 93 crashes to defraud insurance firms.

Paul Hubbard, head of counter fraud operations at Direct Line, said: “Crash for cash scams pose a significant risk to public safety.

“As well as adding to the cost of insurance, they delay payouts on genuine claims as any reported accident at a known scam site has to undergo additional investigations.

“Just the actions of a few can cost motorists a significant amount of money and pose a real threat to people’s lives.”

The worst three places for the scams are in London and the South East.

A police operation is under way in Greater Manchester to catch criminals responsible for the crashes.

Sgt Mark Beales, of Greater Manchester Police’s specialist operations branch, said: “We are pursuing organised criminal networks that seek out car owners and induce them into allowing their vehicles to be part of insurance fraud.

“As part of Operation Contact, we are investigating a number of crashes across our area.

Since the operation started, a number of people have received significant jail sentences.”

Horwich law firm Keoghs has a specialist unit to deal with insurance fraud investigations. James Heath, director of counterfraud strategy, said: “To cope with increasing numbers of suspect claims across England and Wales, we have increased the size of our counter-fraud services unit by a quarter over the past year.”