A MAN standing trial over a suspected "crash for cash" conspiracy denied having any involvement with the running of the garage at the centre of the alleged scam.

Peter Yandell, 52, was questioned by police after officers allegedly uncovered a ploy to make fraudulent insurance claims for road accidents worth thousands of pounds, a court heard.

Yandell, of Wheatley Place, Blackwood, acknowledged he had helped his 31-year-old son Byron by taking out a vehicle insurance for Easifix, a garage which repaired damaged cars in Pengam.

But he said he had paid for the insurance using his bank account because of his age, meaning the policy would be cheaper, Cardiff Crown Court heard.

Peter Yandell told police: "It's not a crime, is it? There is nothing illegal about that."

Yandell added that he had been a "dad figure like" who occasionally advised his son on repairs and had also helped him find the garage premises in Pengam.

He denied being involved in any "crash for cash" conspiracy in a police interview.

Earlier, the court heard that his daughter-in-law Rachel Yandell, 30, had been involved in several alleged accidents.

One alleged crash was said to have involved a taxi driver and taken place in 2011 when she was "seven or eight months" pregnant, the court heard.

She later ended up attending a maternity unit in Merthyr, the court heard.

Byron Yandell, and Rachel Yandell, 30, both of Queen's Road, New Tredegar; Peter Yandell and his wife Michelle Yandell, also of Wheatley Place; Gavin Yandell, aged 29, of Clos Claerwen, Blackwood; all deny conspiracy to defraud between 2009 and 2011.

Proceeding.