A DRIVER involved in Britain's biggest ever "cash for crash" scam has succeeded in overturning a £25,000 confiscation order on appeal.

Raymond Smith, 45, was one of 60 people who pleaded guilty or were convicted of involvement in a massive insurance fraud.

Smith, of Shield Row Gardens, Stanley, staged a fake crash with another driver in March 2010.

He was paid £5,800 by duped insurers, London's Appeal Court was told.

However, after a police investigation of more than 250 suspicious crashes in the area, 60 people, received convictions.

This week Lord Justice Pitchford, Mr Justice Jay and Judge Simon Tonking, overturned that order after hearing arguments that it was unfair.

The court heard the the accomplices were brought to justice by a joint operation, codenamed Operation Nacho, between Durham police and the Insurance Fraud Bureau.

They quickly identified 261 accidents as appearing suspicious. Investigators suspected some were entirely fictitious, some staged and some vastly exaggerated.

They identified 25 accidents which were considered to have the highest impact on the public, both financially and in terms of suspected organised crime involvement.

Those accidents alone were said to have resulted in more than £514,000 being fraudulently obtained.

Lawyers for Smith today argued that he was not a key player in the scam and his confiscation bill ought to have been capped at £5,800, that being the sum he in fact received.

Lord Justice Pitchford agreed and allowed the appeal.

He told the court: "Just because they were jointly responsible does not necessarily mean that they jointly acquired the criminal property".

Smith's case was sent back to the Crown Court for the amount of his confiscation order to be re-assessed."