'Seriously disabled' lorry driver in £1m compensation bid from crash is caught out after posting photos of Italian road trip on Facebook

• Fraudster jailed for nine months for contempt
• Wife given a six-month suspended sentence

By Luke Salkeld for the Daily Mail
Updated: 07:06 EDT, 20 July 2011

After being involved in a road collision, lorry driver Graham Loveday claimed to be so badly injured that the only thing he could drive was his wheelchair.

But following his bid for £1million in compensation, the lure of the open road proved so strong that he overcame his disability - and set off on a caravan trip to Italy.

He even provided an online version of a drivers' log book - by posting photographs of his 2,000-mile journey on Facebook.

Caught out: 'Seriously disabled' Graham Loveday, pictured with his wife Susan, was jailed for nine months for contempt after posting these holiday photos of himself on Facebook

Long holiday: The couple spent May to July 2009 travelling in Italy, just weeks before Mr Loveday signed a document claiming he had a 'crippling' fear of travelling

These pictures, backed up by surveillance footage of him attaching a caravan to his 4x4 vehicle, led to his bogus claim being rumbled.

Loveday has now been jailed for nine months for lying 14 times in court documents about his faked compensation case.

It came after a 'minor accident' with an elderly motorist, which he fraudulently claimed had left him in a wheelchair and suffering from chronic stress.

The father-of-two lied that he was 'wheelchair dependent', had a 'phobia' about driving and could not pursue his hobby of caravanning.

He also said he was beset with psychological problems including memory loss, fear of crowds and being inside a car.

The £1million attempted fraud covered damages, loss of earnings, and the cost of future care.

Also accused: Susan Loveday was given a suspended six-month sentence after she admitted partial liability

A court heard that he wrote in his insurance claim: 'I have to use a wheelchair if I am intending on going any distance. 

'I am fully reliant on my wife to assist me with my mobility both indoors and outdoors.

'The fear I have developed of travelling is absolutely crippling. The prospect of having to go in a car fills me with such dread that I do become violently ill.

'I will do anything to avoid having to go out, particularly in a car. I just want to be locked up safe sat home.

'Prior to the accident, we used to go caravanning.  We also used to take regular holidays every year.  We have been unable to do this since the accident.'

But shortly before the claim, Loveday and his wife Susan, 52, had returned from a six-week road trip driving from his home in South Wales to Lake Garda via France, Belgium and Switzerland.

A surveillance team working for Saga motor Insurance had photographic evidence of them preparing for the trip.

Marcus Grant, a barrister for the insurance company, said: '[Loveday] and his wife had holidayed in Lake Garda with Mr Loveday driving a Land Rover towing a twin-axle caravan.

'A few days after his return, he told a solicitor that he had travelled by plane from Swansea Airport, was taken through the airport in a wheelchair and given priority boarding.'

Investigation: This was one of the pictures the Department for Work and Pensions came across during their investigation of Loveday

This, said Mr Grant, was simply not true, before adding that the Department of Work and Pensions - who also possess the Facebook photos - were also investigating Loveday about benefit claims.

Saga's insurance underwriters Acromas had agreed to settle Loveday's initial claim to the tune of £1,850, before a medical assessment based on his wheelchair use increased the value of compensation sought to £1million.

But after the Italian jaunt in 2009 was uncovered, the insurers said Loveday's witness statement had 14 'untruths' while his wife's had another six.

Mr Grant said: 'There was no doubt that Mr Loveday suffered low back pain and often used a stick but he was very far from a housebound invalid.'

He added that the Lovedays had signed 'statements of truth' in legal documents containing information that each knew to be untrue.

Mr Loveday, of Glyncorrwg, near Port Talbot, denied contempt of court by making the false statements in his compensation claim.

He told the court they had planned to fly but had to change their plans when friends had a bereavement.

Picturesque: Graham Loveday and his wife spent time in Lake Garda during their three-month break

He said: 'I still dreaded going. I hated driving. Being an ex-lorry driver as well, I just couldn't explain it. It was too much. We went because I had to go.'

He protested: 'If I didn't go out, I'd rot in the house. But it took over a week of stop and start to get there.'

Judge Sir Anthony May, sitting in the High Court in London, said the Lovedays had committed a 'public wrong' and described the statements as a 'pack of lies'.

Sir Anthony criticised Loveday for 'continuing the fabrication' while giving evidence in the witness box.

He said: 'Mr Loveday had given a bit of a show of staggering from his seat to give evidence and pretending not to remember things.

'We have to have well in mind that telling deliberate lies in court proceedings undermines the fabric of justice.'

Mrs Loveday was handed a six-month suspended sentence.

Yesterday Roger Ramsden, chief executive of Saga Insurance, said: 'Saga has a very active and professional team of investigators who defend customers against fraudulent claims. 

'We employ a range of investigative techniques and Saga is determined to prosecute any fraudster with vigour to protect the interests of our customers.'  

According to the Association of British Insurers, dishonest motor insurance claims totalling £410million were uncovered in 2009.

The number of personal injury claims in the UK is twice that in Europe despite Britain having Europe's safest roads.

Recent analysis estimates that the cost of fraudulent claims adds an average of over £80 for every motor insurance policy in the UK .