Inside The Shocking Crash For Cash Scams Targeting UK Drivers

My name is Paul Connolly and in this series I'm delving into the world of fraud. Breathing out the criminals. You target elderly people, I don't care. The cheats. I can apply for benefits. And the scammers who will stop at nothing for cash. He blurted into his death, he'd executed him. And we'll go undercover. All right, here goes. To catch them red-handed. How do you feel about the fact that you're potentially cutting people's lives short? This time I'm on the hunt for Britain's crash for cash. Fraudsters. They become a band of desperados who will do any criminal activity to survive. The con artists that cause a crash then want to be paid on the spot. This is like modern day highway robbery. And I expose the scams chancellors pull on public transport. It is theft, whatever way you look at it. There are more than 35 million cars in the UK, which means the car insurance industry is booming. As most insurance companies will pay out if there's a car accident, fraudsters have now started creating deliberate collisions on the road. So that they can claim for fake or exaggerated personal injuries and damage to their car. It's a scam known as crash for cash. Every year around 400 million pounds is stolen in cash for crash scams. Now, as the name suggests, it works like this. The fraudsters will either fake an accident or worse still, they'll crash into an innocent victim, could be you or I, in order to rob tens of thousands of pounds in fake insurance claims. As fraudsters involved in crash for cash scams charge for anything from replacement car hire to exaggerated damage to the vehicles and personal injuries, claims can run into their thousands. It's thought we all now pay an extra £50 on our insurance bills to make up for these fake claims. But these deliberate accidents on our roads aren't just hurting our wallets, they're also a serious danger to our lives. I want to see if I can track down a gang and confront them on why they run crash for cash scams. But first, I want to find out more about how they operate. DI Dave Hindemarsh heads up the Metropolitan Police's crash for cash unit, Operation Catcher. How are you doing? Very well, thank you. Are you well? Thank you. Good. So, start me off then. Are serious gangs in the UK now getting involved in this as a means of earning money? Oh, very much so, yeah. We have a number of gangs who we prosecuted and they're not just into cash for crash. You know, there are other elements of serious crime. So, how do they physically pull the scam off? How do they get people to crash into them? So, here we have an example of what I'll call a classic induced collision. You have the blue Mercedes. The blue Mercedes is the stooge car. That's the car that they want somebody to crash into. And the car just ahead is what's called the decoy car. That's the black Golf. So, those two are working together. OK. What they're looking to do is pick an opportunistic moment to draw him in close. Then at the last minute, which is about now, the decoy car will turn left. Mercedes breaks and stops and bang, straight into the back. That's at speed as well. That's not slow. That's at speed. That's going to hurt somebody. That's 40 miles an hour. And as you can see, bang. So, how does it generally run from there on in? They get out. They exchange details. Yeah, they'll get out. They'll exchange names, addresses. Everyone will blame the decoy car. Which has now vanished. Which has vanished. Never to be seen again. Everybody's friendly. Everyone drives off. And it's only then that the gang starts introducing the claims. The insurance company will then be hit with the cost of a replacement hire car, damage to the vehicle and bogus personal injuries, which can run into tens of thousands. What kind of sentences are handed out for someone who is convicted for this? If you're an organiser, we've seen some of the organisers get seven years imprisonment. There's no mistaking this then. This is a very serious crime. It's very serious. You're putting innocent road users at risk. Causing crashes at speed is a dangerous and now lucrative crime. So, the fact is, I know that these gangs are operating in London and all across the country. What I really want, what I really need, is a face-to-face. I want to look these blokes in the whites of their eyes and ask them if they really know what they're up to. Who it's affecting, you know, the lives they're risking. It's never easy trying to win the trust of hardened criminals. I've been looking for a fixer to help me get in touch with these crash-for-cash gangs. Someone who has links to the criminal underworld. We've managed to track down someone who claims he can do exactly that. He's agreed to meet me in this cafe to give me a steer on the types of characters involved. But there are no guarantees he'll show up. Well, how's it going? Bang on time, though, he arrives. My middle man has told me on the phone that he's willing to arrange an introduction, but he doesn't want us to reveal his full identity. So, what's the backstory with these particular boys? It's quite an interesting story. I have known this crew. They are about 75 to 100 strong. The gang's 75 to 100 strong? Yeah. But they all have one particular thing in common, and that is they are undocumented migrants. They entered the country illegally and remain illegally. They entered here some... Some of them entered here 15, 20 years ago. Work dried up. Income dried up. So they found themselves virtually penniless and homeless. So, as time evolved, they've now become a band of desperados who will do anything, any criminal activity, to survive. Theft, violence, affray, a bit of ABH rather than GBA. OK. If you know what I mean. OK, OK. Just be smart. Just be aware. Yeah. But they won't play it. But they're a bit leery. They can be a bit leery because they've got nothing to lose. They've got that swagger, that attitude that we don't care. Coming up, the thieves who intimidate drivers at the roadside. It's almost as easy as taking money out of a cash point machine with somebody else's card. See you in a second there, mate. And will the crash for cash crooks show up? The only thing I can do now is wait. In this programme, I'm investigating the crooked world of travel and transport fraud. From fair dodgers to car insurance fraudsters. Now, though, I'm on the hunt for Britain's crash for cash criminals. I've met a fixer who says he can get me a face-to-face meezing with a gang that are currently working in East London. The criminal networks have realised there's a ready pool of soldiers here. They've developed this expertise over the years for shoplifting, burglary and cash for cash. One man that knows all the tricks these scammers try to pull is forensic engineer Barry Wheeler. Barry. Hello, Bob. How are you doing? Are you well? Yeah, fine, thanks. And yourself? Dirty day, to say the least. Absolutely. So if there's a crash and, in the opinion of the insurance company, it looks a bit dodgy, looks a bit sketchy, they'll bring you in to see what's going on? Yes. In general, how fast do you have to be going to injure someone, or at least to make a claim legitimate? The change in velocity needs to be around five miles per hour or more. It can come down to three. Someone can really be injured at three miles an hour? It's a very sudden acceleration, and if they're not seated correctly, their head goes back, yeah, that can cause an injury. They're not braced for it, you see, so it can happen at those low speeds. Of the claims that are made in the UK, Barry, how many would you estimate are fraudulent? The general opinion is that one in ten injury claims are staged. It's a massive problem. It's thought there are over a thousand deliberate crashes in the UK every single week, and I'm trying to meet one of the gangs responsible. I've made contact with a fixer who has inroads with some serious fraudsters. He's arranged for me to meet two crash-for-cash criminals, and I'm on my way to meet them now. They've agreed to talk to me here in East London, and the fixer and I are the first ones to arrive. This could be dangerous, so we've brought security, which are hidden from the camera. 20 minutes after the agreed time, and our criminal fixer assures us everything is still on. But he's looking nervous. So it's a case that we could hear from them any minute, or not at all? Yeah, so that is part of the course. That's how these things sort of tend to play out. The reality is that these guys at this very second are wondering, are we police? Are they about to be turned over? They could turn up any minute, or not at all. So the only thing I can do now, it's the most frustrating thing to do, is wait. If convicted, these guys could get anything up to seven years inside. So I'm not surprised they're a little backward in coming forward. Hi, I've been trying him again. Okay. Phone's not switched off, but no answer. It rings out. Something's gone wrong. Some kind of a crisis. All right, okay. And that's why he hasn't bothered to call me, because he hasn't got him in his hand. So I think the best thing to do is we should regroup. I'll get a hold of him tonight, and we'll try and rearrange for another day. All right, we go again. Yeah, okay. Take your hand, yes. After three hours, though, we call it a day. So what I think has gone wrong today is that at the very last second, these fellas have just bottled it. Something's made them suspicious. Something's made them nervous. They've been spooked by something. But just because they haven't turned up today, doesn't mean I'm going to give up. The key to most fraud is quantity. How can you steal someone's money and keep getting away with it? With Crash For Cash, you can create multiple collisions. As insurers are likely to pay out on any potential injuries from an accident, the more passengers you have in a fake collision, the more you can claim. But I've discovered some criminals don't want the insurers involved. When they crash into you, they want their money on the roadside. This is like modern-day highway robbery. Neil Thomas heads a team investigating fraudulent car insurance claims at a commercial company, APU. There's a new tactic that fraudsters are using, and it's called Crash For Instant Cash. What they are doing is finding the car, targeting that car, pulling in front of it. They'll slam the brakes on and cause a collision. And instead of going through the insurance industry, they'll ask for instant cash at the side of the road. Almost as easy as taking money out of a cash point machine with somebody else's car. Last summer, Neil witnessed this exact event first-hand. He was driving along an A road when he noticed a red car driving suspiciously. Two young lads in the car, circling islands. It was just strange behaviour. Roundabouts are a Crash For Cash criminal's favourite hunting ground, as you can sit on a side road, pick your target, cause the crash and then make a sharp exit. And that's why Neil became suspicious when he saw the red car circling the roundabout. I then saw the red car slam its brakes on. The car behind it collided with the back of the car. The person who crashed into the back of the two men in the red car was a young woman driving a Volkswagen Beetle. She was the perfect target for the two scammers, as she was young, female and driving alone. Arguably, insurance premiums are quite high for young drivers. It is a temptation for some motorists not to go through their insurance companies because it will hike their premium for next year and they'll lose their no-claims bonus. Neil was convinced he'd just seen a pair of scammers at work, so followed the red car into a lay-by. When I got out of my vehicle, the driver of the red car asked me why I was getting involved. I said to him, His face dropped. He didn't know what to do. He didn't know what to say. He knew he'd been rumbled. He just wanted to get out of there as quickly as he possibly could. When he started backing away and got into his car to drive away, the only thing I could do is get my mobile phone out. They both got in the car, put their hats down and tried to avoid the camera. What happened next shocked Neil and the young woman, the original target. He accelerated forward and then did a U-turn. He deliberately ran to the side of my car. You can hear the collision. He reversed and then disappeared. Thankfully, no one was hurt and no money changed hands, but it's thought these potential fraudsters are still out there causing crashes. It's a worrying thought, gangs of criminals demanding money at the roadside, but the big money comes into play when the insurers are involved. Over a week ago, I tried to get a face-to-face meeting with a crash-for-cash gang operating in East London, but they didn't show up. Today, I've been given a second chance, and this time, I'm told they'll turn up. We've been asked to meet in an open public place. We have security on hand nearby, but for obvious reasons, they can't be shown on camera. And in case they spook and run, we don't want their criminals to clock them. So this is definitely the place. I was told that they would be arriving at 11 o'clock. But these kind of folks have no idea what exactly that means and what time they're actually going to turn up at. So I'll do all I can to have an eye on you, so fingers crossed they show. These kinds of meetings don't come with any guarantees, but our fixer has kept tabs on them overnight to ensure they don't bail a second time. Now, though, I'm getting nervous, so I give him a call. Fantastic, OK. So we'll see you in about 20 minutes, yeah? OK, OK, good news. All right, so there it is. That's the call from the fixer. 20 minutes, and apparently they'll be here. If they do show, we'll only have one shot at this, and so we make sure the cameras are ready to roll the moment they arrive. Top of the morning. 35 minutes later, and I spot two men walking towards me. I've been told by the fixer that they're undocumented immigrants, and at least one of them speaks English. So I'm hoping he'll open up and tell me about the scam. They've partially disguised themselves for filming. What's your name? My name is Romi. Romi. Lucky. OK. The country you were originally coming from, where are you from? I'm from India. You're from India? Yeah. Tell me about the gang that you're involved in. How many people are in this gang? Plenty of people, Asians, English. So there are English people? Yeah. There are Asian people? Asian people, yeah. All sorts of people mixed up in and involved in this? That's right, yeah. Are they involved in other areas of crime? Of both, like what? I never interfere what they're doing, you know what I mean? I don't want to get into trouble. I know them face to face, but I don't know their names. So you have a middleman. Yeah. You, Romi, have a fixer that gives you jobs. Yeah. Those jobs have been, in turn, given to him by the wider gang and the gang bosses. That's right, yeah. OK. What kind of money, then, a week, do you think this gang might be raking in? Maybe one car worth 10, 15 grand, I made it. I'm just a driver, you know what I mean? They're doing, like, a weekly 20 car, 10, 20 car. Like a full gang doing doctor things, you know, who's doing injuries. When you say doctors and injuries, you're saying they have doctors on the payroll? We have doctors, they can take money and say, yeah, he's got this problem, he's got that problem, you know? Then they send the paperwork to insurers, they can do injury claims, everything. And it's a lot of money. So it's a very complicated, very well-organised system. So just one car can earn this gang 10, 15 grand. And you reckon they're running 20 cars out of this part of London a week? Yeah, maybe more than 20 cars. Paint the picture for me, then. So you and Lucky, he's your passenger, you're the driver. Fixer gives you the car. Who are you waiting to target? Oh, most of the, like, older people and the women, you know what I mean? The young women, they drive sometimes very fast. So we just take the details and just off. So when you crash into younger women or elderly people, it's because they're vulnerable. They'll be frightened and shocked. That's right. So those are the people that you prey on, you exploit. Exactly. And has anybody ever been injured in a crash that you were involved in, Romy? Have any of the passengers of the other cars, the elderly women or the women? We had one day, like one year ago, a big accident on an M25. That time, I think the air ambulance coming, they picked, like, a few people from there. So you caused this accident? Oh, yeah. You and another driver? Yeah, another driver, yeah, yeah, yeah. Tell me what happened. Tell me what happened on that particular day where this big crash in the M25 happened. I remember a little bit, yeah. We had four people sit in a car and a Range Rover in front of us with a BMW that my friend drive. And I think we had an accident about with a lorry or something. You know, the lorry smashed our Range Rover. And that's it. We remember, like, a day after, the ambulance came, took us in a hospital. So you woke up in the hospital? Woke up in the hospital, yeah, yeah. I just opened my eyes in the hospital, you know. What about the passengers of the other cars, Romy, the truck? I don't know. I don't know nothing about them. So they could have been killed? There was a lot of blood, you know, they're coming. So if an air ambulance is coming, that means that somebody was very, very badly injured. Very, very, very injured, yeah. But they saved their lives, you know, I know that. Because he made a lot of money, that guy. So even now they call me to, we had a job, you know, today. So I want to do one job, you know, to do a plug today. So you've got a job on at three o'clock today? Yeah. So you're going to be crashing into someone, or someone's going to crash into the back of you today? Yeah, today, yeah. Coming up, the crash for cash crooks show no mercy. You target elderly people. I don't care. And the businessmen who think they have the right to free travel. We're seeing people using more sophisticated ways of trying to cheat the system. I've been on the trail of crash for cash gangs. And now I'm finally face to face with a driver and passenger team. I'm genuinely shocked by what I'm hearing here. We had big accidents on M25. That time I think the air ambulance coming. I know they're keen to leave. They have an appointment with their bosses to cause an accident in just a few hours. But I want to find out more, so I keep them talking. How much do you get for each job? 80 pounds. 80 quid? 80 quid, yeah. Because we all, even like how many times we go, yeah, we want to get 40 pounds at one time. So you're risking your life for 40 pounds for each crash? You're risking your life for 80 pounds? On average then, Romy, how many jobs would you say you get a week on average? Easily 10. Easily 10? Yeah. So that's 800 quid a week? Yeah. So that's about 3,200 pounds a month. Exactly. So a lot of people would say, you're not paying tax on that. A lot of people would say that that's pretty decent money. That's enough money to... Exactly, when I pay my rent, you know what I mean? You know, there will be people that think, Romy, I mean, you target elderly people, you target young women. They're going to think you're the scum of the earth, the lowest of the low. Money is evil, you know what I mean? I'm due for money, I'm due for us to survive. You see, some people would see what's evil in all of this is being you and Lucky and the gang. I don't care, you know what I mean? That people, if they're thinking like that, but they want to give to me food, yeah? They want to give to me like a home? Well, everybody with a big mouth, they're going to do this, and I don't care about no one. I can't believe they're being so brazen. So I chance my luck and ask them if they'll show me where they actually carry out these scams. Let's go and take a look. Surprisingly, they agree. For fraudsters like Romy and his friends, they need to cause a crash in order to claim from the insurers. But for some scammers, they take it a step further and claim for accidents where there isn't even a collision. Stuart Lever runs a family business renting out vans. This could have cost us our business. I'm the victim, not the insurance company, where you think it doesn't matter because insurance fraud is a victimless crime. It is not. If someone is going to drive his vans, Stuart must provide insurance in case of an accident. Much like a case back in 2010. He came in. He said he was moving. His dad, I think, he said he was moving. There was no issue with hiring him. I wasn't suspicious in any way. He was just an average hirer. Three days later, the van was returned and everything seemed to be in order until Stuart's insurance company called. When I got the initial phone call, I was just absolutely stunned. I mean, this was our fourth claim in that year and I just couldn't believe. I thought, oh no, not another claim. Unfortunately for Stuart, this had happened before and each time someone claimed, he always doubted if it was a genuine accident. I don't think we've ever had a claim where there hasn't been a grave amount of suspicion surrounding the circumstances. In another case, the hirer said the van had crashed into another driver, Suzanne Leach, on the M61. As they were again claiming a large sum of money, Stuart became increasingly suspicious. When I was told by a colleague in the office that it happened on the M61, I just had a vague memory that the van wasn't even there, but I wasn't sure. If he wanted to prove the van wasn't on the M61, he needed a tracking device. Unbeknownst to the claimants, Stuart had just installed them in all his vehicles. The reason they were put in is if the vehicle's involved in a collision, we have some knowledge as to what's occurred during that collision. So I drove back to the office, I checked the tracker and I just went, yes, it wasn't on the M61. I knew that I'd got my first one. So the first claim that came in with the trackers, bingo, I'd got them. With such damning evidence, you'd think Suzanne Leach would have put her hands up. She was interviewed at length and she went through the whole of the accident and she claimed that this accident had definitely occurred on the M61. It had driven into the back of her and the insurance company then informed her that in fact the vehicle was fitted with a tracker. Even after she'd been told this, she persisted with the claim. So the insurance company at that point completely lost the temper and decided to report the matter to the police. The police started an investigation into the case and that's when it turned nasty. Suzanne's son, who was in jail, decided to call the van hire company and threaten a member of staff. The threat didn't deter Stuart. She entered a plea to not guilty but then when she actually stood up, she said to the court that in fact she was guilty and that it was fraud and she'd made the whole thing up. Suzanne was given a six-month suspended prison sentence and was ordered to do 200 hours of unpaid work. The City of London Police is the crack unit for all economic crime and four years ago it set up the Insurance Fraud Enforcement Department, or IFED as it's known. Of all the different types of insurance fraud cases we investigate, crash for cash is definitely the one that poses the greatest safety risk to the public. Detective Chief Inspector Oliver Little heads the department. One of the factors in crash for cash is that each person within the vehicle potentially can earn a number of thousands of pounds and so we've seen some forces changing their tactics and looking for buses and coaches as ways of trying to set up a crash for cash scam. Much like a case back in 2011. After months of investigation, IFED were on the hunt for three men they believed to be involved in a major crash for cash scam. One of the more unusual investigations we took on was a case whereby a group of friends had hired a coach to go out for the day and then had got an accomplice to crash a car into the back of that coach. The insurance company were then hit with 30 separate personal injury claims by people claiming to be on the coach at the time who had all suffered various injuries. All of it faked, all of it fraud. In the summer of 2012, Detective Mark Forster and the IFED team arrived at an address in Liverpool where they were hoping to arrest Liam Gray, one of three men involved in the £150,000 scam. She's saying that he lives in his own flat, moved out four months ago. She doesn't know the door number, doesn't know the flat name or anything. So she says she's got no contact number for her own son, everything else. So she's clearly lying to us, clearly obstructing us. Probably so that she can put a phone call in as soon as we've gone. And sort of tip him off, really, that we're on our way. After some further inquiries, the team were told they'd find Liam at a different address in central Liverpool. Oi, he's opening up, he's opening up. All right, let's go. Bishopstown Police. We're looking for Liam Gray. Not here, mate. He's not here. Does he live here? Lives downstairs. What number? I don't know. Do you just live here on your own, do you? No, I live with my son. What's his name? Ben Antony. Ben Antony? Yeah, if I need to have a word with him, I know. Right, where are they? The police were closing in. Ben Carberry was another suspect in the crime as he was a passenger on the coach and the IFED team suspected he'd worked on the scam with Liam. Where's Liam? Is he in there? The police never take a man at his word and moments later they found Liam in the bathroom. All right, mate, have a seat. Right, you're being arrested for conspiracy to defraud, OK? It's 8.30. You do not have to say anything. We're an army defence. We do not mention when questioned, so we shall have a lining call. Anything you do say may be given in evidence. With Ben and Liam arrested, they were searched, cuffed and taken to the police station for questioning. Meanwhile, Mark and the team went through the house meticulously for evidence linking Liam and Ben to the crime. This particular driving licence is in the name of a gentleman. Who was driving the car that hit the coach up the rear. It's nice for us because it shows association between the gentleman we've arrested today, who we know associates with various people that were on that coach and the person who's driving the car. This evidence was crucial. Two years later, Liam Gray was jailed for 14 months and Ben Carberry for 11. Crash for cash criminals are cunning, calculated, deliberate fraudsters who are out to make as much money as they can. But there's another form of fraud that is crippling our travel networks, fare evasion. What may surprise people is that ticketless travel is often linked to things like anti-social behaviour. Now, nobody wants to get on a train and find that the person without the ticket is also the person kicking over the seats or wrecking the toilets. So we find if we can eradicate one, we can stamp out the other as well. Francis Thomas tackles fare dodging at London Midland. We're seeing people using more sophisticated ways of trying to cheat the system. Sadly, fare evasion is on the rise. Whether it's a fake season ticket or no ticket at all, this type of fraud is costing us millions. What we've seen in the last year, year and a half, is some very high-profile cases that have involved everything from City of London workers to bankers to barristers trying to defraud the railway companies of tens of thousands of pounds. You wouldn't go into a shop, take a pint of milk off the shelf and just walk straight out. So why should somebody get on a train and not pay? The most high-profile case in recent years was that of city worker Jonathan Burroughs. He knowingly scammed Southeastern trains out of £23,000 as he travelled between Stonegate and London. More recently, another city worker, Simon King, joined the rogue gallery of people who think they can travel for free. It is theft. Whatever way you look at it, you are taking something that you have not paid for. Stella Rogers at Govia Thameslink Railway dealt with the Simon King case. This wasn't a one-off incident. This person had not only counterfeited a ticket for one year, they then changed it and counterfeited it for the second year. And as a result, we lost in the region of £7,500. King was travelling from Hassox to London on a fake season pass. From 2013 to 2015, he'd photocopied an old season ticket and just doctored the dates. He always avoided putting it through the barriers, claiming it didn't work and instead would use the side gates. Until one day he was stopped. We have teams of specially trained revenue officers and they are very experienced in spotting fraudulent tickets and that's exactly what happened in this case. By then, Simon King had stolen nearly £8,000. It was a deliberate act of fraud. We would always prosecute in cases such as this. King admitted to fraud. He lost his job and was ordered to pay a fine and complete 100 hours of unpaid work. Is it worth a criminal record? Think about the price of that ticket. Is it really worth it? Coming up, I meet the fare dodgers face to face. Excuse me, do you mind if I ask you why you didn't pay your fare? No comment. And the crash for cash gang take me to their crime scene. I've done in this round about like four or five times. This is a lucky place for me. It's estimated that as many as one in 20 journeys made every day on the UK rail network are made without tickets and it's you and I that ultimately pick up the bill. I've been invited by Midlands Rail to Birmingham to see for myself just how many people are trying to dodge the system. So this is the time of the morning where it is in full flow. This is peak time and this is when the inspectors and the police here are going to be at their busiest when looking for fare dodgers. Jennifer is part of the revenue protection team and will be the person handing out the penalties. So what are we looking for? What are you looking for more importantly? As a whole, people do buy tickets, but there are a minority that intend not to pay for their fares and that's what we're looking for. People either move to face tickets, swapping tickets, transferring tickets, several things that we keep an eye out for. When you do catch someone, when you rumble them for fare evading, it can be quite embarrassing for them if they're confronted in public in a busy place like this. Does it sometimes kick off? Do they get aggressive? I have been assaulted by passengers in the past, yeah. I just asked a gentleman for a ticket and he just exploded like a bottle of pop and winded me by kicking me in the ribs and threw me onto a platform. And it comes out of the blue, you're not expecting it because you're just going along the train asking for tickets, which is what you're there to do, and somebody just reacts like that, which is not pleasant. Which is why Jennifer and her team have asked for the police to come along today. Ticketless travel on trains is costing the industry an estimated £240 million a year. Reveal tickets and passes, please, folks. Thank you. Lovely, folks, have a good day. That's your seat reservation card, that's the one. Hello there. Thank you. Make sure you don't lose that and you have until the 17th of February now to pay your ticket back. There you go. Can I just see your bank card as well for your form of ID, just to confirm your name, sir? What's going on here? Three to four people haven't been there, but it seems to be the same routine excuse every time. Sorry, I was headed off somewhere. I was late for work or something like that and I needed to jump on the train, didn't have time to get the ticket. It seems like a fairly common excuse. Maybe they get away with it sometimes, but not today. Inspectors often work closely with the transport police in case passengers get aggressive. How come you didn't buy it before you travelled today? No, because the train was coming and I was going to miss you otherwise. OK, unfortunately, it's going to be a penalty fare today rather than a ticket for travel, because you are in a penalty fare area where we operate a penalty fare scheme. Have you got some identification with you? I just need you to write on there for me, sir, your name, your address, including postcode, and your date of birth, please. Have you got any ID in your bank card, anything with your name on? Thank you. Unfortunately, sir, it's a penalty fare scheme. It's your responsibility to buy your ticket before you board a train. And there were four facilities at the station which you travelled from today. Excuse me, do you mind if I ask you why you didn't pay your fare? No comment? Do you think it's reasonable? 20 quid or is it too much? I won't keep you a moment, sir. Hello, Romeo 20658. Can we come off the train, please? Yep, this door's just behind you, darling. Even though he's been caught without a ticket, this customer isn't too keen on paying his fine. You're going on YouTube, mate. You are, man. Copy of your penalty fare, sir. Pay your appeal by the 17th of February. Have a good day. It's plain and simple. Ticketless travel means the cost of travelling by rail goes up for everyone. Over the course of the morning, the revenue team caught 99 people without tickets. And this, remember, is on one train line, only one. So think of how big this problem is across all of the networks. Whilst fare evaders are pushing up the price of our rail tickets, a bigger threat to our wallets and to our lives are crash-for-cash criminals. Earlier, I met Romy and his friend who say they're paid up to £80 to cause a crash. And this gang that you work for, that you do these crashes for, they branch out all over across the country, don't they? Of course. They're so boastful about their crime, they've now agreed to show me their favourite hotspots for causing crashes. That happened in a bad place, that happened, you know? In that place, that happened. So what is it about this particular location that attracts you to it? You know, that place is good for, like, morning time to crash the cars, yeah? Because most of the young people, you know, they go to work, yeah? And there's some of, like, kind of late, you know? Someone talking on the phones, you know? Someone got a coffee in the hand, you know what I mean? So around what time in the morning do you go? As Romy goes on to explain the mechanics of the scam, my blood starts to boil. What about the police? Did the police ever come into these types of actions? So this is your lucky round about your time? These lads are getting really twitchy about the time. Their gang leader has told them they need to cause another accident this afternoon, but that's another good excuse to stall them and to move to another location. So there's somebody on the phone getting the calls? That's it. They're done talking. And incredibly, they claim they're now off to cause another accident, but won't tell us where. So the reality is that blokes like them, as long as they will be getting paid, they'll continue to target the elderly. They'll continue to target young women. They'll continue to target anybody they see as vulnerable. Because as long as they're cashing in, it doesn't really matter what the consequences are to them.