SIX people have appeared at court accused of staging an accident and putting in fake whiplash claims.

Police said the five men and one woman from Blackburn were accused of being in two cars which collided at Whitebirk Drive roundabout off junction six of the M65, on April 18, 2008.

Yusuf Mohammed Wasway, 25, of Cherry Street, Aziz Bham, 22, of Addington Street and Hodder Place, Ibrahim Seedat, 27, of Wareham Street, Ismail Seedat, 24, of Bethel Road, Sabina Patel, 25, of Cherry Street and Ahmed Patel, 28, of Town Walk, are all charged with fraud by false representation.

The alleged insurance fraud scam centres on a crash between a blue Audi A3 being driven by Wasway and a black Vauxhall Astra allegedly being driven by Ibrahim Seedat, police said.

The other four defendants are said to have been passengers.

Zurich paid Wasway £1,800 for the damage to his car, but did not pay six injury compensation claims made by the defendants, police said.

Fraudulent claims investigators referred the case to the police.

All six defendants were given bail to re-appear before Blackburn magistrates for committal proceedings on April 1.

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