Police and their 'Powers'

johnandsurajThu 03/04/08 14:18

Ok, maybe not the right category but it involves cars..my sisters.

My sister gave me back her Vauxhall Tigra which i had bought for her new 11 years earlier for her birthday, as she had just bought herself a new Z3
She cancelled her insurance for the Vauxhall and transferred it to the new car. Meanwhile i had a spare insurance policy from a car i sold recently, but didnt get round to transferring it to the Vauxhall and on the 25th of last month, i was stopped by the police, as their onboard vehicle registration scanner flagged the car as uninsured.

The officer i got was pretty off handed about the whole episode, and it was plain from the start, that all he was bothered about was scoring points because he had 'nicked' someone. I explained that i had this spare policy, but he was adamant that as i had sold the car, the insurance was void and invalid, so the end result was the car was emptied on the roadside, 2 A4 hi vis stickers attached, stating "Seized by POLICE Driven without insurance" No amount of explaining did any good and the car was towed away to a compound where it cost me £105 to get it back, £22-60 in taxi fares (compound was in the darkest reaches of Suffolk) £260 lost wages, and £280 for a new insurance policy to get the car back immediately. plus 6 points and a £200 fixed penalty fine, a total of £865-60!!!

Then after further digging, and contacting the insurance company, who then contacted their underwriters, who confirmed my policy was still valid, despite no longer owning the car, and yes i was fully covered to drive my sisters old car.

The bit that got me was the cavalier gung ho attitude of the officer concerned, who was more interested in nicking me, then listening to reason.

But the fun part has just started. After proving to the police, the vehicle WAS insured, they graciously said i wouldnt get the 6 points or the £200 fixed penalty, fine i said, but what about the remaining £665-60???
And this is where i am hitting EVERY obstacle the system can throw at me.

Any advice on getting the rest of the money back???

Meanwhile, i am tempted to put the sticker BACK on the car with the words "OH YES IT WAS" added underneath!

tavdyThu 03/04/08 14:29

quoting > "Any advice on getting the rest of the money back???"

Check with your local CAB, and find out if you can go through the small claims court.

johnandsurajThu 03/04/08 14:35

Its worth a try, at the moment they are hiding behind the excuse that they can only rely on information supplied by the insurance company, but i tried to tell them, that their system would only hold insurance info relevant to the car and that i had another policy, in fact i had another TWO policies, but its not getting me very far at the moment

sunbeamThu 03/04/08 14:41

A strong (but polite) complaint to the chief constable (personally) about the attitude of the officer, his apparent threatening behaviour, not checking the facts you gave, etc, would be my next move. Dependant on the result (only FULL compensation would do for me) passing the story to the press would be my next.
The police in this country are tainted by (I am told) a small number who revel in the importance of their authority. It's about time they were told EXACTLY how to behave in cases like this, and be severely reprimanded or dismissed if they act in this manner.

Sorry if this sounds like a 'Disgusted, Tunbridge Wells' letter but I am generally disgusted by the attitude of this sort of misuse of authority which is heard of far too often.