A MOTHER has been jailed for falsely claiming she was driving a car instead of her uninsured daughter when it was involved in a crash.

Magdalena Cailipan, aged 45, of Drake Avenue, Worcester, feared she wouldn’t be able to afford the cost of repairs after her daughter Tracy Mayer borrowed her Vauxhall Zafira and crashed into the back of a VW Golf in Malvern.

When Mayer discovered her own policy did not cover her to drive her mother’s car and she was not covered by her mother’s insurance, they went ahead with a plan to get Direct Line to pay the cost of £6,172, Nicolas Cartwright, prosecuting, told Worcester Crown Court.

Mayer, aged 26, of Prospect Close, Malvern, had borrowed the car in rainy conditions on December 14 last year to collect her young son because her own car had problems with the back lights, the court was told. She was at fault when she wrote off the Golf and damaged the Zafira.

Mother and daughter both spoke to the insurance company and made the claim, which was paid. Cailipan was then sent a notice of intended prosecution by the police, which she signed to say she had been driving.

“She was worried about the cost of repairs and also that her daughter could be prosecuted for driving without insurance,” said Mr Cartwright.

Stephen Parker, for both defendants, said the plan was doomed to fail from the outset.

“It was sheer stupidity on the part of both mother and daughter,” he said.

Having started on the ruse, Cailipan foolishly carried on with it when sent the police notice. He told the court she was also a single mum who had her 16-year-old son to look after and she was likely to lose her job in a care home if sent to prison.

Mayer, he said, had been working part time but was about to start a full-time job. She had two young children and her mother helped her look after them. Cailipan pleaded guilty to an act intended to pervert the course of justice and jointly to a charge of insurance fraud.

Recorder Denis Desmond said there had to be a deterrent sentence to prevent people from trying to pervert the course of justice and jailed Cailipan for three months. She was given no separate penalty on the fraud charge.

He said he accepted Mayer had thought she was insured when she borrowed the car. She also admitted insurance fraud and he gave her a 12-month community order with 150 hours unpaid work. She was fined £150 for driving without insurance and ordered to pay £325 costs.