A “cynical opportunist” who was accused of making a fraudulent claim of between £3,000 and £5,000 for an alleged injury on a National Express West Midlands (NEWM) bus has been sent to prison for contempt of court and ordered to pay £1,000 costs.
Mykel Joseph-Allen, 25, of West Bromwich was sentenced to nine months by Birmingham County Court after he initially claimed he suffered whiplash after a collision between a double-decker and a private hire car in Soho Road, Handsworth, Birmingham.
The accident took place in June in 2015 and Joseph Millington, representing NEWM, told the court that Mr Joseph-Allen had been on the opposite side of the road to the collision.
He said that Mr Joseph-Allen crossed over, boarded the bus and later made a claim, for between £3,000 and £5,000, to NEWM for injury he alleged had been caused to him as a passenger at the time.
Mr Millington described Mr Joseph-Allen as a “cynical opportunist” and said CCTV footage on the bus revealed “an entirely fabricated claim.”
“The defendant was identified by a yellow strip on his track suit,” said Mr Millington. “He took images of the situation and sent a photograph of himself to NEWM plus an e-mail. Not one part of his claim was genuine – it was all lies. He was never on the bus.”
The court was told that a county court hearing was listed to consider Mr Joseph-Allen’s claim but a month before he withdrew it. NEWM then made a claim for contempt of court against him to as a warning against others who make bogus claims.
At the hearing Judge Martin McKenna said: “It is hard to think of a stronger case of a fraudulent claim.”
He said the offender should be suitably punished to discourage further similar claims and counter a widespread and pernicious assault on the legal system
