Strongman who ‘could not carry a purchasing bag’ after automobile crash caught lifting a 4×4

A strongman said he was left so weak after a car crash that he couldn’t pick up his shopping bags, but had to pay the other side’s legal costs after his insurance company found out he was still competing in events. Solicitors said champion strongman Scott Maw was called ‘blatantly dishonest’ on his insurance claim against another driver. His decision has now left him £25,000 worse off, according to a report in the Mail Online.

Maw, 36, was crowned King of the Log Press at the Peak District Highlands Games just two weeks after the crash and managed to pull along an eight-tonne tractor. Six months later, Maw became Yorkshire’s Strongest Man at the time he was claiming he could not lift shopping bags and had trouble getting in and out of the bath.

The claim came following a crash in August 2022 when Maw was driving his Vauxhall Insignia car. His partner was a passeger at the time and a Ford T200 Connect collided with the side of his car as it performed a sudden U-turn.

There was no dispute that the other driver was to blame and Maw, a plasterer, lodged a claim saying he had a whiplash-type problem in the form of a shoulder blade injury.

Papers were filed with Sheffield County Court contesting Maw’s claim. Eventually, Maw dropped the claim and paid the other side’s legal fees, which amounted to £15,000. HIs own legal fees cost him another £10,000.

Maw insists he only dropped the claim because things “spiralled out of control” and that his symptoms were “intermittent”.

Markerstudy Insurance Services Limited and its lawyers HF said Maw was an example of a “fundamentally dishonest” insurance claim.

The partner at HF responsible for the case, Graeme Mulvoy, added that Maw had no visible sign of injury, but that he had seen a doctor in September 2022 and January 2023

He said that “some of the injuries described by him we say essentially couldn’t have been caused or not to the same severity be caused”.

During the Highland Games, Maw pulled a tractor weighing 170kg and lifted 120kg logs eight times in a minute.

“You wouldn’t have expected somebody suffering from those injuries to be able to do it…” Mr Mulvoy said, adding “He played down the significant exertion his body would undergo in these events.”

Maw told the Mail he still has occasional pain in his shoulder due to the crash and has now retired from competing in Strongman events. He said he was able to compete in the August Strongman event the same month as the crash as he was used to “working with niggles”. He said: “When I get out the bath and push on the side sometimes I would have a bit of pain in my shoulder blades.”

His insurance company withdrew their support when they found out he had competed. “Do I stand on my own and risk going to court? Somebody said they could go for equity in your house. That were really frightening.” Maw added that claims he was dishonest are “not true”. The Daily Star reached out to Maw for further comment via Instagram

“I still get pain in my shoulder now, I must have jarred it when I turned the steering wheel,” he said. “I know how it’s being perceived but it’s not the truth.”

The Daily Star has reached out to Scott Maw for a comment.

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