Shropshire Star

Caught out by CCTV: 'Victim' fakes Telford car accident - then asks for medicine cash

A man who claimed he had been hit by a car in Telford took money from a stranger for medicine – before CCTV footage proved the accident had never happened.

Published
The money was retrieved and is now in the possession of West Midland Ambulance Service

Paramedics arrived at Telford Shopping Centre to find a man lying on the ground surrounded by worried onlookers.

He told them he had been hit by a car, and was screaming because the driver had not stopped. It happened in Southwater Way, near Brown Elm Car Park.

Now a campaign has started to find a man who gave him money in the hope that it can be returned.

Hayley Jeffs, 30, was one of the first people on the scene after the man began screaming. She said: “Nobody had seen the car hit him, but I heard him hit the ground. He was screaming and swearing.

"I've done a first aid course, so I checked him over and he was saying he'd hurt his head and his leg. I told him if he'd been hit by a car he would need an ambulance, but he did not want me to ring one. He said if he went to the hospital, he wouldn't be able to get back."

One onlooker, who left the scene, gave the man at least £20 after he asked for help to pay for travel and painkillers. But when paramedics arrived they found the man to be uninjured.

CCTV from a nearby restaurant showed that the car had not hit the man. The money was retrieved and is now in the possession of West Midland Ambulance Service.

Hayley, a hairdresser, said: "Within an hour of getting home the paramedics called me. They told me the car hadn't touched him – he'd thrown himself to the ground.

A Facebook campaign has been launched following the incident on Thursday evening in an attempt to give the money back to the man who donated it.

The good Samaritan is described as having dark hair, a slim to medium build and was in his early 30s. He was wearing jeans and had red trainers on.

Clare Brown of West Midlands Ambulance Service said: “We were called to reports of an RTC just before 7.30pm on Southwater Way.

“One ambulance attended and arrived to find a patient who was lying on the floor.

“Upon assessment the crew found the person was uninjured and didn’t require any hospital treatment.”