How insurance firms will crack down on fraud

A HOODED man in a rain jacket stretches for a sack of coal perched on top of a pile five-high on the back of truck, swings it over his shoulder and carries it briskly to a nearby house.

He has just told his insurers his arm is so badly hurt that he can not work and will lose €75,000 in earnings.

At the top of a ladder leaning against the gable wall of a two-storey house, a man produces his brush and makes smooth strokes along the edge of the roof. He has recently made a 25,000 insurance claim for serious back and neck injuries.