LONDON,  (Reuters) – A Briton who cost the insurance  industry some 1.6 million pounds by staging almost 100 car  crashes as part of a scam to win fraudulent payouts, was jailed  for 4-1/2 years yesterday.  

Mohammed Patel, 24, charged 500 pounds a time to stage  accidents which enabled fraudsters to claim an average of 17,000  pounds from their insurers. 

Police said he staged at least 92 crashes between 2005 and  2008, each time persuading the other driver to believe they were  at fault.  

The plot was uncovered after workers in an office block by  the main A34 road in Cheadle, near Manchester, became suspicious  about a regular number of crashes taking place at a nearby  roundabout.  

AXA insurance, one of the firms caught up in the scam,  investigated and contacted police. Detectives found that Patel  deliberately caused crashes for his clients by braking suddenly  so the vehicle behind could not avoid a collision.

The claimants then demanded compensation from the victim’s  insurance firm for personal injury, legal fees, courtesy cars,  and often with the damage to the cars fabricated.

Manchester’s Minshull Street Crown Court heard that  fraudsters were able to claim on average 17,000 pounds from  insurance firms for each of the crashes Patel caused, the Press  Association reported.