Haulage firm boss jailed for £20k insurance fraud

A DIRECTOR of a Suffolk haulage firm has been jailed for 15 months for a £20,000 insurance fraud.

David Lench used a back dated insurance cover note to make a claim after one of his vehicles was involved in an accident, Ipswich Crown Court heard.

Lench, 55, of King Street, Felixstowe, admitted dishonestly making a gain by making a false representation to an insurance company by using an insurance document which had been falsely produced.

Sentencing Lench, Judge David Goodin described the fraud as sophisticated and said he had used somebody “on the inside” at the insurance company to backdate his insurance to cover the time of the accident.

Godfried Duah said that one of Lench's trucks was involved in an accident on the M11 in the early hours of February 15, 2007.

He said that a friend of the defendant who worked at an insurance company had backdated the insurance so that the vehicle was covered at the time of the accident and Lench had subsequently been paid £20,025.

Mr Duah said that in addition the insurance company had run up costs of £5,000 investigating the fraud.

Joanne Eley, for Lench, said his company had a fleet policy for its vehicles and an oversight had led to the vehicle involved in the accident not being added to it.

She said Lench was a hard working man and he wanted to repay the money he had received from the insurance claim.