More than 200 people are alleged to have made false insurance claims in a £1m-plus fraud involving FirstGroup buses in Chester.

Prosecutors allege most of the 218 claimants were bus passengers who were relatives, friends and associates of 12 defendants who deny conspiracy to commit fraud in a trial at Manchester Crown Court.

It is alleged minor crashes involving First buses were stage-managed on routes in the Chester area.

In each of the seven collisions, a car, and in one instance a van, deliberately drove into the bus.

A jury heard false whiplash claims were made in a case which investigating police previously estimated may involve a total sum of more than £1m.

Buses were chosen out of ‘greed’ said prosecutor Peter Cadwallader, because of the sheer number of claims that could be lodged. He said the crime was ‘commonly referred to as cash for crash frauds’.

But Mr Cadwallader said it would be ‘impossible’ to bring all 218 people to court and instead the case had to concentrate on the ring leaders.

He claimed the 11 men and one woman in the dock, from Chester, Ellesmere Port, Frodsham and North Wales, were involved in a conspiracy with the claimants to defraud various insurance companies.

Money was also raised through referral fees, on average worth about £900, paid by solicitors firms for every new client.

Prosecutor Mr Cadwallader claimed the defendant who ‘links it all together’ is John Christopher Smith, 41, from Grasmere Close, Connah’s Quay.

Smith ran a company in St John Street, Chester, called Swift Accident Solutions, which in the relevant 17-month period had a turnover of £210,607. It is claimed that an estimated £157,300 of that turnover was as a direct result of the alleged fraud.

Of the 218 insurance claims, 177 were handled by Swift Accident Solutions.

The prosecutor said: “In essence, the prosecution have had to concentrate on who they allege to have played a part in organising the frauds or who played a significant part in the collisions themselves.

“They were organisers, people who recruited large numbers, those who coordinated those who carried out the collisions. The prosecution have not prosecuted the simple claimants - too many.”

The first collision was in Cliveden Road, Lache, on October 29, 2010; the second was in Shelley Road, Blacon, on February 12, 2011; the third was in Sealand Road on June 18, 2011, the fourth was in Overleigh Road on June 24, 2011; the fifth was in Christleton Road/Whitchurch Road on August 6, 2011; the sixth was on the A41 at Eastham on October 1, 2011 and the final collision was in Liverpool Road, Chester, on January 21, 2012.

Smith alone is charged on all counts including making a false representation in that he didn’t declare that he had any outstanding county court judgments when he applied to the Ministry of Justice for a licence to operate a claims management business.

Other defendants accused of conspiracy to commit fraud are: Charlotte Watts, 28, from Fford Almer, Wrexham; Jamie Stokes, 22, from Gosmore Road, Mold; Daniel Shaw, 27, from Milton Road, Blacon, Chester; Dean Brown, 42, from Kings Crescent West, Chester; Luke McQuillan, 40, from Dyserth Road, Blacon; Michael Gentile, 45, from Hawthorn Road, Chester; David Clancy, 36, from Normanby Drive, Connah’s Quay; Sean Kettyle, 43, from Westminster Road, Ellesmere Port; Barry Cooper, 35, from Hall Lane, Connah’s Quay; Richard Flynn, 48, from Church Street, Connah’s Quay and Andrew Shaw, 57, from Ashton Drive, Frodsham.

The case continues.