BOLTON has been named as one of the UK’s motor insurance fraud hotspots.

The town is the seventh-worst nationally when it comes to Crash for Cash scams, which see criminals manufacture collisions and later make fraudulent insurance claims, according to the latest figures.

The table shows that the BL3 postcode, including Little Lever, Darcy Lever, Great Lever, Daubhill and Deane, is the 14 worst in the country.

The Insurance Fraud Bureau, which compiled the table, estimates that over 55,000 personal injury claims were linked to such scams in the last year, costing the industry £336 million.

Stuart Lever, the owner of U-Drive in Blackburn Road, says that he has been the victim of ten such frauds and, on one occasion, an insurance company had to pay out £85,000 for what Mr Lever describes as a ‘minor shunt’.

He appeared on Victoria Derbyshire's BBC2 show yesterday morning to talk about his experience.

Mr Lever said: “It is a massive problem in Bolton. It will be impacting people’s insurance premiums and they are already high in Bolton.

“Van hire companies are so easy to fraud. People just hire one out and conjure up this accident that never took place.

“One year our premium went up 42 per cent after a claim. This is not a victimless crime. Up to now we have had three hire companies in Bolton shut down because of these scams.”

The former Conservative councillor for Astley Bridge has since fitted tracker systems to his vans and says that he has not had a problem since he did so. However, he says his company is spending around £4,500 a year on the equipment.

Mr Lever estimates that Crash for Cash incidents have cost him at least £80,000, and have impacted upon his own insurance policy.

Bolton has had problems with Crash for Cash scams in the past, with several high-profile cases of individuals being jailed for such offences.

In 2009, 24-year-old Mohammed Patel was jailed for four and a half years after admitting 17 charges, including conspiracy to defraud, dangerous driving and disqualified driving.

Two years later, it was revealed that more bogus claims were made at junction 4 of the M61 in Farnworth than anywhere else in the north of England.

The latest results show that Birmingham is the UK's hotspot for Crash for Cash incidents, closely followed by Bradford and Manchester.

The Association of British Insurers estimates that fraud adds, on average, an extra £50 to the annual insurance bill of every UK policyholder.

A spokesperson for the ABI said: “This is certainly one of a number of factors behind high insurance premiums.

“Crash for Cash scams also put the lives of innocent motorists at risk. These crimes are often committed by highly organised gangs and are often done to fund other criminal activities.

“The industry is investing a lot of money into tackling this sort of thing. Our latest figures show that there is a slight slowing down of this sort of crime so the efforts are starting to bear some fruit.”