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Auto Windscreen in insurance scam
Last updated at 17:51pm on 10.04.03THE top bosses at Auto Windscreen have been kicked out after an investigation found its fitters had been swindling insurers.
Parent RAC, the motoring group, has been forced to pay out £820,000 to insurers. Some of the car glass installer's workers had created false invoices or forged the signatures of motorists who had called them out for separate repairs.
RAC said there was no implication that the Auto Windscreen management had profited from the fraud. But Auto Windscreen managing director Mark Usher and his marketing director brother Richard Usher have both quit.
Its divisional manager for South Wales, Andy Coleman, has been sacked for failing to investigate the matter properly after an initial enquiry was received. Operational director Greg Stronge and sales director John Riggall were sacked for failing to ensure the practice had been eradicated.
The Association of British Insurers was involved in the investigation. 'We apologise to those insurance companies affected and reassure them that we have taken every possible step to stop this from happening again,' said Findlay Caldwell, managing director of RAC Consumer.
The company has written to its 1,400 fitters, warning that any future false claims would be treated as gross misconduct.
RAC, formerly Lex Services, bought Auto Windscreens from Usher's management team and HSBC Private Equity for £112m two years ago. It has now appointed Bill Duffy to replace Usher. Duffy was formally managing director at RAC unit Lex Commercials.
