Two Redbridge fraudsters who helped stage car crashes to make phoney insurance claims netting more than a million have been jailed.

Car salesman Rosul Yusuf, 33, of Sandhurst Drive, Goodmayes and car hire manager Halimur Rashid, 28, of Leamington Gardens, Seven Kings, were two of six men involved in the “crash for cash” scam.

They staged more than 120 fraudulent claims to insurers for accidents that never took place, making �1.17million for themselves, with insurance companies paying out a total of �1.91million.

The criminal gang staged “crashes” in their business premises prior to submitting claims to the insurers for services that were not provided. These claims were for recovery and storage as well as replacement hire vehicles.

From November 2005 to October 2008 a number of London-based accident management companies were used as a front to hide their activities.

After a tip-off police unearthed reports of a “crashing party” inside a garage at the Motor Alliance premises in Tottenham, which was set up by the criminal mastermind Samsul Haque to handle fraudulent claims.

Haque and Yusuf directed those present to drive low value cars into high value cars,.

After each crash the pair would inspect the cars and if the damage was deemed insufficient, cause more damage using baseball bats.

The claims mainly involved a low and a high value car, where the low value car was always “at fault”.

Yusuf was jailed for four years and also disqualified for five years as a company director, while Rashid was sentenced to 15 months in prison.

Haque, 26, of Lydford Road, Haringey, was jailed for five years; Shalim Miah, 29, of Rampayne Street, Pimlico, received two years imprisonment; Nazruislam Rahman, 32, of Turner Avenue, Haringey, was handed a suspended sentence of a year’s imprisonment and 140 hours of unpaid work and Noveed Akthtar, 40, of Cochrane Court, Leyton Grange Estate, Leyton, was handed a suspended sentence of a year’s imprisonment.

All were sentenced for conspiracy to defraud at Snaresbrook Crown Court on Wednesday.