Successes14

A 2004 Fiesta Ghia was reported "gone in 2 minutes" from outside the home address during broad daylight. The owner admits leaving the vehicle unlocked, however can only produce one key for the vehicle, that being the "non remote" spare key. The PH claims to have mislaid the remote key in March 2009. The key provided is clearly the spare, on an unmarked leatherette fob and when inspected under a microscope (see photograph below right) shows no signs of wear that would be in keeping with daily use for 9 months - even one journey to work and back each day for 5 days a week would mean 6 key insertions per day (unlock door, insert in ignition, lock door, unlock door, insert in ignition, lock door) x 5 days = 30 per week x 4 weeks = 120 per month x 9 months = 1080 insertions. For every insertion would be an extraction hence one would expect to see surface scratching on a microscopic level to show several thousand witness marks and smoothing of the machining of the cuts. This is not so.

Quite clearly, the key handed by the PH as the "main key used for the last 9 months" is actually an unused spare (or at least not used for any length of time). The fresh appearance of the key blade would smoothen over several months with slight wear showing and the cuts smoothing out slightly due to polishing effect of coins in pockets with the keys, lock disc to key interference etc. The fob also shows no signs of ever being handled on a daily basis being unmarked and "as new".

"Woooooow wo woooooaaaah, my Passat's on fire..."

One "flaming" fibber of a PH submitted a claim for the loss of his 2001 Passat. He claims it was stolen, only to be found abandoned with minor interior fire damage. There were no signs of a break in.. because the PH drove the car to the burn locus himself, set fire to the interior, shut and locked the doors with his key and then "hot footed" it away. The fire quickly went out due to a lack of oxygen due to the doors and windows being shut. He should have spotted the CCTV camera... it spotted him!!

Ambersett is now working with a Spanish Insurance Claims Handler, with offices in mainland Spain and Gibraltar in partnership with Eurotecs. This new partnership brings a new technical angle to compliment the investigation service already offered by Kevin Street of Eurotecs.