Ferenc Kirinovits uploaded pictures of himself completing an obstacle onto Facebook(Picture: East Anglia News Service)
A car crash victim who demanded £22,000 compensation had his case thrown out after he posted pictures of himself completing an assault course.
Ferenc Kirinovits, 45, claimed the 2016 collision left him with neck injuries that required surgery three years later, and he was unable to work for three months.
The coach driver also said the incident left him unable to clean his home, go to the gym, tend his garden, play football, start a new job or go swimming due to whiplash and prolapsed discs in his spine.
Yet investigators for insurance company AXA UK found pictures of him completing an obstacle course in Mexico – which Kirinovits himself posted on Facebook.
The images showed him climbing ladders and ropes in a treetop activity park six months before undergoing his surgery.
One picture showed him hanging upside down from a rope while another featured him climbing across netting on what appeared to be an obstacle course.
Further pictures showed him riding a quad bike, holding on to a zipwire as he zoomed over a woodland pool of water, jumping off a cliff and swimming.
A judge at Norwich County Court threw out his compensation claim, saying he ‘exaggerated any injuries to the point of criminal dishonesty’.
He is seen here riding a zip wire (Picture: Clyde & Co LLP)
The coach driver showed no sign of disability in holiday pictures from Mexico (Picture: Clyde & Co/East Anglia News Service)
Other pictures showed him enjoying a sight-seeing trip to the Mayan temple of Kukulcan in Yucatan.
Kirinovits was driving a car on the A11 near Attleborough, Norfolk, when it was hit from the rear by another vehicle in August 2016.
AXA UK, which represented the other driver, did not dispute liability, but believed Kirinovits was not as seriously injured as he claimed.
District Judge Jacqueline Raggett said Kirinovits ‘exaggerated any injuries to the point of criminal dishonesty’ (Picture: Clyde & Co/East Anglia News Service)
Kirinovits of Lakenham, Norwich, claimed in court that he had been told he might not be able to engage in sports after surgery so wanted to enjoy them one final time.
But District Judge Jacqueline Raggett ruled at the hearing in February his claim was ‘fundamentally dishonest’.
She accepted he had been injured and had undergone surgery, but said he could not prove his prolapsed discs or surgery were caused by the accident.
AXA UK is now entitled to recover legal costs estimated to be about £12,000.
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He claimed he was unable to work, but uploaded pictures of himself hanging upside down.Â
