When strongman champion Scott Maw was injured in a car accident, he told his doctor he was having trouble carrying shopping bags.
However, while claiming that he had a shoulder injury in the form of whiplash, he neglected to mention that he still had a good hand at lifting logs, concrete balls and even a Transit van.
The decision to claim compensation for his accident injuries, in what lawyers say was a ‘blatantly unfair’ insurance claim against the other driver, has left him £25,000 out of pocket.
Two weeks after his crash in Sheffield, 36-year-old Maw was still able to pull an eight-tonne tractor and be crowned King of the Log Press at the Peak District Highlands Games.
And six months later, when he said his injury problems continued – leaving him, he claimed, ‘restricted’ in carrying shopping bags, doing chores and ‘getting in and out of the bath’ – he was awarded the title of Yorkshire’s Strongest Man.
Unsurprisingly, the extent of his injuries was disputed by the other driver’s insurance company.
Six months after his crash, Scott Maw took the title of Yorkshire’s Strongest Man, despite saying his injury problems continued
Maw (pictured winning Yorkshire’s Strongest Man 2023) claimed the crash left him ‘restricted’ in carrying shopping bags, doing odd jobs and ‘getting in and out of the bath’
Maw insists he was genuinely injured, was able to continue competing as a strong man because his symptoms were “intermittent,” and only dropped his claim because things “got out of hand.”
As his claim was disputed, papers were filed at Sheffield County Court.
But eventually the strongman dropped his claim and agreed to pay the other party’s £15,000 legal costs, with the total bill coming to £25,000 when his own fees were added.
The case has been made public by Markerstudy Insurance Services Limited and its lawyers HF as an example of how people who make ‘fundamentally unfair’ insurance claims can pay a very high price.
In August 2022, Maw, a plasterer, was driving his Vauxhall Insignia car with his partner as a passenger when a Ford T200 Connect made an unexpected U-turn and crashed into the side of his car.
There was no doubt that the other driver was guilty.
When his insurer made a claim against the other driver’s insurer, he stated that he had a whiplash-like problem in the form of a shoulder blade injury.
Graeme Mulvoy, the partner at HF in charge of the case, said Maw was examined by a GP in September 2022 and January 2023 when he still claimed to be injured.
There was no visible sign of injury, such as bruising, and it was “all based on his story.”
Mr Mulvoy said that ‘some of the injuries he described could essentially not have been caused or could not have been caused to the same severity’ by the accident.
Mr Maw said he was still fit to compete in the Highland Games event in August because he was used to ‘working with niggles’
During the Highland Games, about two weeks after the crash, Mr Maw pulled a tractor under his own power, carried stones weighing 170kg (more than 26 stones) and lifted logs weighing 120kg (more than 18 stones) eight times a minute. stones) on.
Mr Mulvoy said: ‘You didn’t expect someone with these injuries could do this.’
The lawyer added that he could perform tasks that “required superhuman strength,” while at the same time claiming that “carrying groceries was too difficult for him.”
Commenting on the strongman competitions, Mr Mulvoy added: ‘He played down the significant strain his body would undergo in these events.’
Maw told the Mail he had now retired from competition after competing in strongman events for more than a decade. He said he still experiences occasional shoulder pain as a result of the accident.
He said he told the doctor he was “in pain every now and then, but still managed to get to work and still able to go to the gym.”
“Sometimes when I get out of the bath and push on the side, I have a little pain in my shoulder blades,” he said.
Maw told the Mail he had now retired from competition after competing in strongman events for more than a decade
He said he was still fit to compete in the Highland Games in August because he was used to “working through niggles”.
When his insurance company discovered he was competing in the strongman competition, they withdrew their support.
“I didn’t know what to do,” he said. ‘Am I standing on my own two feet and risking a lawsuit? Someone said they could go for equity in your house. That was really scary.’
Maw said he then agreed to the deal to pay both legal fees to end the spiraling saga.
Asked to comment on the insurance company’s suggestion that he had been “blatantly dishonest”, he said “that is not true.”
‘I still have pain in my shoulder, it must have been shocked when I turned the wheel. I know how it is perceived, but it is not the truth.’