good afternoon and welcome to the bbc news at one. five bulgarian nationals have been sentenced to a total of 25 years in prison after being convicted of the biggest benefit fraud ever in britain. the gang stole almost £54 million by making thousands of fraudulent claims for universal credit. the judge said they d systemically plundered the state s support mechanism to steal eye watering sums. our social affairs correspondent michael buchanan reports. taxpayers money thrown around like confetti by a multi million pound fraudster. the scale of the scam astonished investigators. now the gang behind it have been sentenced. the full story of britain s biggest benefit fraud can be told. prosecutors say thousands of people were flown from bulgaria to london, that ids were then used to make claims for the main benefit universal credit. police officers. when the fraudsters various premises were raided, investigators found an extraordinary amount of evidence. 900 mobile phones
the current situation is the worst it s ever been globally. jennifer meierhans reports. i didn t really feel comfortable having photos taken with me in the same outfit all the time. chloe flew to italy for her friend s wedding, but her luggage got lost on the way. i spent the first couple of hours, which you would normally think, oh, i ll go and see the sights, running around shops, trying to find pharmacies to get like replacement toothpaste, toiletries. a lot of stress i didn t particularly want on kind of my first holiday that i ve had in quite a few years. and that was the experience of witnessing my friend get married, which unfortunately i ll never be able to to relive because obviously that s a once in a lifetime opportunity. chloe s experience is thankfully rare, but last year saw the worst lost baggage rates globally in a decade. we have seen a 75% increase year on year and that s as a result of the post pandemic. we ve seen staff shortages and we ve seen a surge in passenge
it s enough to put any holiday into turmoil when your luggage fails to appear at baggage reclaim. but airline figures show 26 million bags were lost, delayed or damaged last year, the highest number in a decade. the industry has blamed difficulties recruiting staff after the pandemic. jennifer meierhans reports. ididn t i didn t really feel comfortable in the same outfit all the time. rib tickler we flew to italy for her friend s wedding but her luggage got lost on the way. chloe flew to italy. running around shops, trying to find toiletries, pharmaceutical products, a lot of stress i did not particularly want. obviously the experience of witnessing my friend get married, which unfortunately i will never be able to relive because obviously that is a once in a lifetime opportunity.