The owners of a £200,000 supercar are claiming that police officers wrongfully seized their vehicle before taking it for a dangerous high-speed joy ride in the early hours of the morning.
On Wednesday 1st June, police officers pulled over the Lamborghini Huracan after their automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) system mistakenly showed that the vehicle was uninsured.
The vehicle, owned by London based luxury car hire firm City Supercars, was pulled over as a delivery driver made his way to a hotel near Heathrow Airport en-route to a client who had hired the Italian Supercar for a wedding in Yorkshire.
Officers stopped the driver just before midnight on Wednesday night and explained to the driver that they believed the vehicle was not insured. The driver explained that the vehicle was covered and that the hire company had just renewed their insurance, which would explain why the details were not yet on the Motor Insurance Database.
One of the police officers spoke to the owner of City Supercars, Erwyn Mackee, who then e-mailed insurance documents to show that the vehicle was covered. Despite this, the officers were adamant that they were going to seize the vehicle and take it to the compound until acceptable proof of insurance was provided.
If the driver of a vehicle cannot prove to the police that they have a valid car insurance policy, the police have the power to seize the car and impound it. Once the police have taken the vehicle to the storage compound there are strict procedures in place to release the car – you must also provide proof that you have a valid impounded car insurance policy to be able to release your car.
Erwyn attended the police station the following day, where the same document he had e-mailed to the attending officer was accepted as proof of insurance and he was able to collect the Lamborghini.
City Supercars have claimed that the tracking device fitted to the vehicle, which is monitored by their insurer, shows that the supercar was clocked travelling at over 60 mph in a 30 mph zone after it had been confiscated by the police. Erwyn explained that their insurance provider notify them every time the car exceeds the speed limit, stating that the car had been recorded at over twice the speed limit by the police. The tracking device recorded
The company have said that they will be making an complaint to the Independent Police Complaints Commission. The Met Police have commented that they are currently investigating the incident.
If your car has been impounded by the police it can be a very costly event. Added to the cost of any fixed penalty notice you’ve received, you will also have to pay compound storage fees and a release fee. Finding an insurance provider that will cover an impounded car used to be time consuming and very expensive but Impounded Car Insurance UK can help to relieve some of the headache when it comes to releasing your car.
