AN innocent van driver launched his own investigation when he was blamed for a road-rage accident which was not his fault, a court was told yesterday (Friday).

The motorist's insurers were tricked into paying out to the man behind the wheel of the other vehicle after he got a bogus eyewitness to make a statement.

He resorted to parking his Suzuki van at the scene of the 2012 crash with a sign asking anyone who saw what really happened to get in touch with him.

Eventually, a legitimate witness came forward and the lies of Mercedes 4x4 driver, Scott Brough, 43, and his pal Carl Wilson, 27, began to unravel.

It emerged that Brough got angry in a queue of traffic at a roundabout at Junction 63 of the A1 near Chester-le-Street and "bullied" the other motorist.

Prosecutor Ian West told Teesside Crown Court that he deliberately drove into the side of the van to force his way past it onto the motorway.

Fearing a road-rage row, the victim headed off towards a police station and was pursued by Brough, and almost hit a pedestrian with a child in a pushchair.

Both drivers blamed each other, and when Wilson was recruited as an apparently independent witness, the insurers paid out in the favour of Brough.

Both men were jailed after admitting perverting the course of justice, fraud by false representation, aiding and abetting fraud and dangerous driving.

Judge Sean Morris told Brough, of Faraday Court, Durham: "It took a member of the public coming forward many months later to expose you as a liar, a cheat and a fantasist."

Jeremy Barton, mitigating, said his client - who arrived at court in a wheelchair - "has a history of psychiatric illness and a long list of physical problems".

"He can walk for a very short time, but as you may have seen his legs are like pencils," he said. "He has muscle wastage which makes longer distances impossible."

Mr Barton said Brough is addicted to Tramadol, and told the court: "I would say he has little choice but to continue on with his original lie."

Yvonne Taylor, for Wilson, of Burnside, Esh Winning, said the father-of-two had been offered £100 by a man he refused to name to make the false statement.

He was jailed for nine months, and Brough - who faced being banned from the roads if he was found to be to blame - was locked up for a total of 21 months.