A FORMER pub worker pretended his car had been stolen and made a fraudulent claim on his insurance to avoid telling his parents that he had crashed into a wall, a court heard yesterday.

A FORMER pub worker pretended his car had been stolen and made a fraudulent claim on his insurance to avoid telling his parents that he had crashed into a wall, a court heard yesterday.

Russell Tuffs, 25, was driving home from work at a pub in Bungay just after midnight on Christmas Eve last year when he misjudged a corner and hit a wall near the Bungay Kebab House in Bridge Street.

Tess James, prosecuting, told Lowestoft Magistrates' Court on Tuesday that Tuffs was unable to move the car and so left it where it was and walked away.

The next day, he tried to hide the fact that he had crashed the car from his parents and was also concerned because he had drunk a bottle of beer before driving, and so told them that the Renault Clio had been stolen.

Tuffs, of Hamilton Way in Ditchingham, pleaded guilty to failing to stop at the scene of an accident, failing to report an accident, wasting police time and fraud by false representation, after making a claim on his insurance for the stolen car.

Mrs James said: “When he later spoke to the police, he tried to cover his tracks and went on to make a fraudulent insurance claim. He accepted that he had wasted police time as well as trying to claim money from his insurance company.”

Ed Proffitt, for Tuffs, said he did not want to tell his parents about the crash and pretended that the car had been stolen. His father then took him to Beccles police station to report the theft, which was when Tuffs found himself telling another lie.

Mr Proffitt said: “He went with the intention of telling the officer on the desk that he had crashed into a wall, but then his dad came into the police station and told the officer that the car had been stolen.

“As a consequence, a report was filled out and five days later, after some nagging from his parents, he told the insurance company. He didn't feel he could get out of the situation.

“He didn't report it to them with the intention of defrauding them in the usual sense, but because things had slid completely out of control and were going down hill.”

Mr Proffitt added: “This is not a man who has been deliberately deceitful in its usual sense. He told a fib to begin with and it then all just rolled away from him.”

Tuffs was fined �160 for failing to report the accident and his licence was endorsed with six penalty points. He was fined an additional �100 for wasting police time, �120 for the fraud and ordered to pay �60 in costs.