‘BB’ drivers face massive insurance hike due to ‘cash for crash’ scam

Some drivers have been quoted rises of up to 70% with insurance companies and brokers citing “BB” postcodes as being high-risk areas. The dramatic hike in premiums comes in the wake of high-profile insurance scam court cases.

Crash-for-cash fraud has put the area in the second spot of a national league table. Only Bradford came higher.

A survey by Direct Line identified roundabouts on the M65 — in Burnley, Nelson, Colne and Blackburn — as the top four places in the country where unsuspecting drivers are targeted.

The BB postcode extends from Blackburn to Barnoldswick, but different charges are also being applied within the area.

In Burnley, BB11, the cost of repairing vandalised cars is also adding to the bill.

A town centre broker said: “It all contributes and now it is affecting people who have not had problems in 20 years and seen their premiums rocket.”

Another broker said main insurance companies had decided on a 20%-25% immediate rise nationally to claw back some of the cost of “staged accidents” claims, which it is estimated cost £12m. last year.

Two brothers from Burnley, Rezwan Javed (33) and Rehan Javed (35) were found guilty of the country’s biggest crash-for-cash swindles in August. They will be sentenced in December.

“They aren’t the last”, said the broker. “The ones who keep it low-key will get away with it because they don’t do enough to get them noticed and put on a hit list.

“All we can do as drivers is to be more vigilant, especially on roundabouts. They stop deliberately and then two or three passengers and a dodgy independent witness appear from nowhere, or they overtake just before the junction and slam on.”