The passengers’ bogus claims from unsuspecting insurers is costing the country millions of pounds a year, The Daily Mail reports.

In one recent incident investigated by police, 36 bogus passengers made injury claims on board one bus after an Audi sports car rammed into its side.

And after five other cases in Cheshire racked up £1 million ($16 million)  in illegal claims, police launched an 18-month investigation to catch the crooks. They believe the incidents are all linked and organised by an underworld gang.

The British secretary of justice has now introduced new measures whereby injury claimants will be thoroughly checked by specially-trained teams of doctors before claims are made.

British insurance giant Aviva has accidentally sent out an email sacking more than 1,300 of its employees, The Telegraph reports.

The company intended to fire a single staff member at its asset management arm, Aviva Investors, by email, but the human resources department sent it to all employees instead.

The email told all workers to hand over company property and security passes when leaving the building for the last time.

Which? looked at the terms and conditions on the websites of 39 car insurers and 34 home insurers and found that customers are often charged huge fees that are little known.

Insurance companies such as AXA and Swiftcover charge a fee of £30 ($47) just to update customers’ details, change your surname on marriage or change your car. Another company, Hastings, charges £35 ($55)  to amend policy holders’ details on its car insurance policy.

Some insurers even have fees for renewing policies, Budget Insurance charges as much as £75 ($119) to cancel a car insurance policy.

Many insurers do not even publish details of their charges on their website.

‘It’s a disgrace that insurers charge exorbitant fees to make basic changes to a policy. These charges should reflect the real cost to the company and not a way of making easy money from consumers who are already struggling with high and rising insurance premiums,” says Which? chief executive Peter Vicary-Smith.

Insurer Codan has looked at one million claims filed during the last six years. Amazingly, there was an increase of 13.5 percent in accidents such as falling on the pavement on a Friday the 13th compared with any other “normal” day.

However, when it comes to car accidents, Friday the 13th actually has fewer insurance claims than on ordinary days.

Codan product manager Jesper Franch thinks there might be a logical explanation to this pattern.

“Our assumption is that people are very careful when getting into the car on Friday the 13th. However, once it is time to get out of the car, they have forgotten about being careful,” he says.

The Sun has compiled some of the oddest cases out there, and they are startling reading.

One claimant had this explanation as to why he needed compensation for his destroyed carpet:

“The turkey was in the oven. I opened the door, armed with a baster and oven gloves, but the turkey was heavier than I expected and it flew out of the oven on to the floor! Luckily I had just hoovered so I was able to put it back and finish cooking it. We had a lovely meal, but the carpet was ruined.”

And this person might have been exaggerating a bit when he wrote: “I had been driving my car for 40 years when I fell asleep at the wheel.”

One parent must have been less than pleased when he filed this claim: “I gave my son £400 for Christmas, who then accidentally threw it out with the rubbish.”

One slick customer claimed for accidental damage to his Italian-made wig after he knocked a pot of paint over his head.

A motorist wrote: “My girlfriend kissed me, I lost control and woke up in hospital”, while another insisted: “As I turned the ignition key I glanced at my mother-in-law and headed over the embankment.”

And when the insurance company asked a couple what gear they were in when their car crashed, they confidently replied: “Reeboks and Wranglers.”

According to the insurer’s white paper “Exploring the Impact of Marital Status on Insurance Premiums”, which looks at quotes on premiums from 35 insurance providers, married people got the lowest quotes while divorced persons were offered the highest prices.

“The purpose of the research was to genuinely find out whether married people get the cheapest quotes. It’s what everyone suspected and so it’s not a great surprise to see that the findings from our research have confirmed this. What is surprising, however, is that divorced people, generally, receive the highest quotes,” says Joe de Vries of MotorQuoteDirect.

Insurance data shows that divorced people do make the most claims, but singles make even fewer claims than married people.

Jasmine Jamrus-Kassim from Seattle has been sentenced to 75 months in prison after she stole more than $1 million from her clients. She was arrested after an investigation by the local insurance commissioner.

“This rogue agent shamelessly took advantage of vulnerable clients. In some cases, she stripped people of their life’s savings,” said Washington state Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler.

The clients, aged 74 to 90, thought that the money was being re-invested. But Kassim spent the funds on, among other things, psychic websites. In a single month, she paid $20,000 to one such website alone. She also used money on clothes and a trip to Mexico.

Her clients have been compensated by the insurance company that she represented.

“The claims are shooting up through the walls — the DJ goes out of business, the photographer goes out of business, the venue takes your money and is actually in bankruptcy,” Robert Nuccio, president and CEO of R.V. Nuccio & Associates, the program administrator for Fireman’s Fund wedding insurance, tells Tucson Citizen

Specialized insurer WedSafe has seen a 60 percent jump in policy sales since 2007, says Aon Vice President Steven Lauro, and Travelers has also seen steady increases in wedding insurance sales during the same period.

Premiums vary based on the overall cost of a wedding, and many insurance providers allow customers to cover wedding particulars — such as photography, the gown or wedding bands — for additional charges.

Cancellation coverage typically insures these items, and liability insurance, which venues are increasingly requiring couples to carry, protects the hosts against injuries to guests or property damage.

According to the Associated Press, the Illinois-based giant said it will look for the new staff in both the US and Canada.

Spokeswoman Holly Anderson said the jobs will be mainly in customer service, claims and IT.

State Farm has a total of 66,000 employees and another 17,800 agents.

Keiran Lee, who is from Derby but works in the adult movie industry in Los Angeles, has had his valuable asset insured at Lloyd’s of London.

His employers, porn studio Brazzers, took out the policy to protect itself in case of the star suffering a mishap.

“I had to have a medical exam to make sure I was all fit and healthy. I don’t plan on losing my penis any time soon. The worst part is that if anything does ever happen, the money gets paid out to Frank Lipari, my boss,” the 28-year-old said.

Lee has shot about 800 scenes in his adult film career.