FOOTAGE showing a Land Rover being driven into a forklift truck was shown to the jury in the trial of three men and two women accused of a ‘crash for cash’ plot.

The CCTV images also showed five men kicking and hitting the Land Rover on July 28, 2011 at 5pm outside a car garage.

An insurance claim was then put it on behalf of three people who were allegedly travelling in the Land Rover when it collided with a BMW, which was allegedly being driven by defendant Gavin Yandell, a court was told.

He is on trial charged at Cardiff Crown Court with conspiracy to defraud with four other members of his family.

Barrister Christopher Clee, prosecuting, told the jury: “What you’ll see is Byron Yandell and Gavin Yandell manually deploying the air bags of the Land Rover.”

A second CCTV film was then shown of the brothers allegedly opening the front doors of the Land Rover and leaning in to the front of the car for a couple of minutes on July 29, 2011 at 9.44am.

The Yandell family, who claim to have been involved in 15 crashes over two years, ran a repair centre called Easifix in Pengam, which is at the centre of the allegations.

Byron Yandell, 31, and his wife Rachel Yandell, 30, both of Queen’s Road, New Tredegar; his parents Peter Yandell, 52, and Michelle Yandell, 51, both of Wheatley Place, Blackwood; and Gavin Yandell, 29, of Clos Claerwen, Blackwood, face a total of 28 counts relating to car accidents they claim took place between 2009 and 2011.

The jury also heard a recording of a phone call that took place between an AXA Insurance call handler and a passenger who was said to be travelling in the Land Rover when it allegedly crashed with the BMW on July 26, 2011, at 10.30am in Pentwyn Avenue, Blackwood.

The woman said her son was driving, but could not come to the phone as he “couldn’t speak”.

She told the call handler damage had been caused to the back of the vehicle before being corrected by an unknown male that it was actually to the front.

“I don’t know, I haven’t seen it,” she said.

Proceeding.