James Smith, 48, illegally claimed almost £35,000 in benefits before an anonymous tip-off led investigators to discover his claims that he struggled to walk 65ft were false.
They filmed him pushing a wrecked Mini Metro around his father's yard in Chorley, Lancs., as well as operating heavy machinery.
He was jailed for 10 months.
In May 1999 he legitimately started claiming income support for medical reasons. In 2005, he filled in a form saying he was breathless even sitting down, struggled to get out of a chair, could not walk more than 65ft and used a walking stick. He also claimed he needed help getting in and out of bed, using the lavatory and getting dressed.
Liverpool Crown Court heard that in 2006 Mr Smith took over the running of his father's scrapyard. He did not inform the authorities.
After receiving a tip-off benefits officials staged the investigation.
They found he had wrongly accepted just over £6,000 in disability living allowance between November 2006 and January 2008 and £12,610 in income support between April 2006 and December 2007.
According to the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), Smith had received the highest rate of disability living allowance because he had claimed he was incapable of caring for himself due to a disabled leg and an enlarged heart.
The investigation also found he had illegally claimed just over £16,000 in housing benefit from August 2004 to January 2008 for a property in Birkdale, Southport, that was owned by his parents, for which he actually paid no rent.
Jailing him for 10 months, Judge Nigel Gilmour said: "You pulled the wool over your doctor's eyes when describing your condition. You need punishment to deter you and to deter others who abuse the benefits system."
Did the business file no accounts? Pay no tax? If it did, data matching should have picked him up. If it didn't, HMRC should be calling.
And did no one trouble themselves to check the ownership of that house?
And who did he say was helping him to get in and out of bed?
There's more to this.
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