South Africa sees approximately 12 serious truck accidents daily. Considering the 67 percent of trucks on our roads that are not roadworthy, it’s no surprise. The question is how do damaged un-roadworthy trucks get the go-ahead from insurance assessors after an accident?
Carte Blanche, a South African investigative journalism television series, aired a 10 minute 32 second video on the show, which featured on M-Net titled “Insurers Taken for a Ride” on Sunday, May 24 at 7pm. Here they expose tow truck companies offering truck drivers a “quick-fix truck” that fools insurance assessors into approving accident claims.
“The reason we did it, is tow truck operators allow local transport operators to take road safety short cuts to defraud insurance,” Carte Blanche producer Nicky Troll said. “Insurance won’t pay out if your car is not roadworthy. You are technically responsible for the accident if you don’t maintain your vehicle,” she explained.
Carte Blanche have dubbed the story one of their “biggest stings yet.”
To avoid disrupting traffic on national roads the Carte Blanche crew staged a truck accident in Rosetta.
With the assistance of specialist equipment, a truck was tipped on its side and the team staged an accident scene.
The truck used to create the scene had been involved in an accident a few years back. Three local tow truck companies were called to attend to the ‘accident scene’ but the first company called couldn’t make it out to the scene. The next two on the list were, Gerry’s Motors and Jes Towing and Recovery.
Upon arriving on scene at different times, the show depicts both representatives from the tow truck companies offering to repair the damage obtained in the ‘accident’ in order to make it seem as if the vehicle is in fact roadworthy.
This will make it easier for truck owners to register successful insurance claims. Investigative Journalist Devi Sankaree Govender and the camera crew paid the two companies an unexpected visit. Representatives from both companies spoke to the Estcourt News after the expose. “I confirm that my client did not change the break lining on the vehicle in question as portrayed by the programme,” confirmed Attorney Desigan Pillay from Desigan Pillay Attorneys, on behalf of his client Shiven Juggernath, owner of Jes Towing and Recovery.
Responding to the show, Peter Buys owner of Gerry’s Motors said it is unfortunate that they were caught up in the staged situation. He said the company representative Erick Hewitt was enticed by the lady on the scene as she appeared to be in a state of distress and kept pushing and asking for things to be done, which were unquestionably illegal and unacceptable, which made it seem like Erik was attempting to assist.
“Mr Hewitt fell for the bait and over stepped the mark. “We are currently in the process of conducting a formal disciplinary enquiry. “I have been in the business for the last 28 years and have always run my company ethically and customer focused, Mr Hewitt has been employed at my company for 10 years and interestingly we pride ourselves in not having received any complaints to date.
“Towing and recovery is not our main business we are involved in Shell South African, Bidvest Car Rental and Continental Tyres to mention but a few therefore it’s not in our interest to taint the rest of our business by behaving unethically in any aspect of what we do. ‘If there is any unethical behaviour we will get to the bottom of it and ensure it never happens again.
In the bigger picture, attention does need to be placed on addressing the misconduct and unethical practice present in the towing industry and we support any initiatives to that end,” assured Mr Buys.
In the programme Peter Buys and Shiven Juggernath are cross-examined; soon Mr Pillay arrived to represent his client. Links to the show soon spread like wild fire on social media platforms.
