THIS is the extraordinary moment a shopper in Iceland faked an accident by appearing to fall to the ground in a bid to get thousands in compensation.
Teresa Birch was captured on camera slowly tumbling to the ground at The Food Warehouse store in Paignton, Devon, on January 2 last year.
Comical footage shows the grey-haired conwoman taking a dive in the aisles of the supermarket out of the sight of staff and other shoppers.
She then tried to make a personal injury claim against supermarket chain Iceland Foods – but the fraudster’s plans backfired once the CCTV came to light.
Birch has now narrowly avoided jail and been ordered to pay more than £17,000 in court costs after being convicted of contempt of court.
She had said she was involved in an accident after “her foot caught in the loop handle on the sack” of a bag which had been left out.
Birch then attempted to claim £10,000 compensation for injuries to her right knee and left hand, submitting a Claims Notification Form through lawyers on February 21 last year.
However, the supermarket denied liability and shared CCTV footage which they stated made “crystal clear” the accident was planned and staged.
Birch’s lawyers promptly ceased to act on her behalf and she was hauled before a court herself.
On Friday, Birch pleaded guilty of contempt of court in front of His Honour Judge Mitchell, sitting as a judge of the High Court, at Plymouth District Registry.
She was handed a four week custodial sentence, suspended for 12 months, and also ordered to pay Iceland’s costs, which are in excess of £17,000.
Iceland Foods legal director Duncan Vaughan said: “We and other retailers are sadly often faced with fraudulent or exaggerated claims which can be difficult to defend.
“In this instance we had strong evidence in the CCTV footage, which meant that there was no other reasonable explanation for the defendant’s actions other than deliberately staging an ‘accident’ in order to make a claim against us.”
Iceland CEO Tarsem Dhaliwal added: “Like shoplifting, the making of fraudulent injury claims adds to the stress and costs of doing business and ultimately makes shopping more expensive for everyone.
“We are determined to fight this in the interests of our colleagues, customers and society as a whole.
“Anyone seeing Iceland as a soft touch should be in no doubt that we will do our utmost to defeat fraudsters and will not hesitate to bring them before the courts for punishment.”
Other supermarket fraudsters
In December 2023, a gang of cruel fraudsters were jailed for wearing Children in Need Pudsey Bear outfits to con kind-hearted supermarket shoppers out of more than £500,000.
The cheats posed as charity collectors to rake in huge sums of cash – before splashing the money on luxury lifestyles.
While a scammer was banned from every Asda supermarket in the UK in March 2022 after scanning £4,000 worth of food as carrier bags.
Kenneth Hollis, 43, from Dudley, West Midlands, targeted five supermarkets in the region in his plastic bag scam.
Banks warned shoppers in August 2022 to be on the lookout for fake supermarket vouchers.
Lloyds Banking Group told customers to look out for dodgy supermarket vouchers, which are becoming more frequent.
If it’s for “today only”, it could be a scam.
Meanwhile, it was revealed earlier this month scammers are stealing £2,300 every minute in Britain, shock figures show.
Around 60 per cent of scams are so-called “purchase fraud” when people pay for goods — ranging from Taylor Swift gig tickets to supercars — but never receive them.
Robert Johnson is a UK-based business writer specializing in finance and entrepreneurship. With an eye for market trends and a keen interest in the corporate world, he offers readers valuable insights into business developments.
