Car Seized even though I was fully insured

Car Seized even though I was fully insured

Author
Discussion

silver123

Original Poster:

132 posts

114 months

Thursday 27th February
quotequote all
Hi, needed some advice on a police seizure

Got stopped a few months back dropping brothers little kids off on a weekend in middle of the night.

Police stopped me and seized my car, saying someone else’s insurance was showing on their database, although they could see I was insured with the same (big) insurance company last year. Had left phone on charge.Asked me why I didn’t have papers in glove box. Literally begged them to take me to my house ,so I could show them the documents as my phone was on charge at home. The kids only live a literal minute away, which would have taken a minutes journey .

They were pretty hostile acting & took the car and gave me a 7 day producer. Had to pay 100s for release fee and drive miles to the compound in a different city with brother who had to take a day off work.

My insurance company confirmed I had always been on MID, but the previous owner, for whatever reason, had still left insurance running on my car. The 6 points and 300 fines were eventually quashed. Police have mostly been dismissive, rude and defensive over the complaints process and digging their heels in and saying it’s a glitch in system, so will not pay up , pointing to statements like ' you should carry your documents with you', and insurance company saying they are not liable either, as I was on MID when cops stopped me. I can’t afford legal at the moment and lawyers I’ve contacted are saying it’s not criminal/ strong civil case and it’s niche, so won’t help on pro bono basis . Been a horrible anxiety provoking few months. Anyone know what the law is around this or what I can do ? Much appreciated

mmm-five

11,662 posts

297 months

Thursday 27th February
quotequote all
What resolution are you looking for beyond getting your car back (which you have)?

Are you looking for some compensation, an apology, both?

megaphone

11,164 posts

264 months

Thursday 27th February
quotequote all
What did you do wrong to get stopped?

paul_c123

450 posts

6 months

Thursday 27th February
quotequote all
You could buy something like this:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/226409969566?_skw=12v+p...

so you could charge the phone in the car; the point being, if you're not going to print out the documents and keep them in the glovebox, then you NEED to have your phone with you if you need to retrieve them to show insurance.

I suspect there's more to this than simply, your car was double insured - I find it hard to believe the police would go through with all the bother of seizing if there's a good chance insurance is in place. And I can understand why they'd not be going on a wild goose chase driving around to your house (if it was so near, could you have walked there and back?) Let me guess, the car is "interesting" or has been modified or its condition is "interesting"???

CypSIdders

1,139 posts

167 months

Thursday 27th February
quotequote all
paul_c123 said:
if you're not going to print out the documents and keep them in the glovebox, then you NEED to have your phone with you if you need to retrieve them to show insurance.
Utter drivel!

Bigends

5,815 posts

141 months

Thursday 27th February
quotequote all
CypSIdders said:
paul_c123 said:
if you're not going to print out the documents and keep them in the glovebox, then you NEED to have your phone with you if you need to retrieve them to show insurance.
Utter drivel!
My insurance stuff is all on my home laptop - not on my phone. I dont carry printouts either - there no point as the Policy could have been cancelled after renewal so its possible paper wont be accepted as proof. I dont believe carrying a phone is a legal requirement to drive

Edited by Bigends on Thursday 27th February 18:47

Countdown

43,800 posts

209 months

Thursday 27th February
quotequote all
silver123 said:
Hi, needed some advice on a police seizure

Got stopped a few months back dropping brothers little kids off on a weekend in middle of the night.

Police stopped me and seized my car, saying someone else’s insurance was showing on their database, although they could see I was insured with the same (big) insurance company last year. Had left phone on charge.Asked me why I didn’t have papers in glove box. Literally begged them to take me to my house ,so I could show them the documents as my phone was on charge at home. The kids only live a literal minute away, which would have taken a minutes journey .

They were pretty hostile acting & took the car and gave me a 7 day producer. Had to pay 100s for release fee and drive miles to the compound in a different city with brother who had to take a day off work.

My insurance company confirmed I had always been on MID, but the previous owner, for whatever reason, had still left insurance running on my car. The 6 points and 300 fines were eventually quashed. Police have mostly been dismissive, rude and defensive over the complaints process and digging their heels in and saying it’s a glitch in system, so will not pay up , pointing to statements like ' you should carry your documents with you', and insurance company saying they are not liable either, as I was on MID when cops stopped me. I can’t afford legal at the moment and lawyers I’ve contacted are saying it’s not criminal/ strong civil case and it’s niche, so won’t help on pro bono basis . Been a horrible anxiety provoking few months. Anyone know what the law is around this or what I can do ? Much appreciated
IANAL but surely in order to get 6 points/£300 fine you must have gone to Court, at which point you would have produced evidence of your Insurance, which would mean a Not Guilty verdict and therefore no points / no fine?

paul_c123

450 posts

6 months

Thursday 27th February
quotequote all
CypSIdders said:
Utter drivel!
I suggest you familiarise yourself with the wording of the Road Traffic Act 1988, section 165A. Put simply, if.... "the person fails to produce such evidence".......they can seize it.

paul_c123

450 posts

6 months

Thursday 27th February
quotequote all
Countdown said:
IANAL but surely in order to get 6 points/£300 fine you must have gone to Court, at which point you would have produced evidence of your Insurance, which would mean a Not Guilty verdict and therefore no points / no fine?
Exactly. There is more to this case than the OP is letting on.

pinchmeimdreamin

10,337 posts

231 months

Thursday 27th February
quotequote all
My take on the ops post.

Stopped by police for reasons unknown ( did they give a reason op ? )

For some reason car showing uninsured ( for op ) on database, police cannot contact insurer as middle of night so car seized

Op later proves he was indeed insured, so was able to get car back and therefore no need for fine and points.

Op now thinks he is entitled to compo.

EmailAddress

14,293 posts

231 months

Thursday 27th February
quotequote all
paul_c123 said:
CypSIdders said:
Utter drivel!
I suggest you familiarise yourself with the wording of the Road Traffic Act 1988, section 165A. Put simply, if.... "the person fails to produce such evidence".......they can seize it.
Still bullst without an additional factor.

TheK1981

248 posts

88 months

Thursday 27th February
quotequote all
Im reading the below in the op's post:

Had to pay 100s for release fee and drive miles to the compound in a different city with brother who had to take a day off work.

Im taking this to mean that he had to pay the fees anyway to release the car and now cannot reclaim these, my ex had this when her car was towed in London when she had a permit, eventually got the money back via her debit card (they wouldnt take credit cards)

Bigends

5,815 posts

141 months

Thursday 27th February
quotequote all
EmailAddress said:
paul_c123 said:
CypSIdders said:
Utter drivel!
I suggest you familiarise yourself with the wording of the Road Traffic Act 1988, section 165A. Put simply, if.... "the person fails to produce such evidence".......they can seize it.
Still bullst without an additional factor.
The officer must have reasonable grounds to believe the vehicle is being driven whilst uninsured

EmailAddress

14,293 posts

231 months

Thursday 27th February
quotequote all
Bigends said:
EmailAddress said:
paul_c123 said:
CypSIdders said:
Utter drivel!
I suggest you familiarise yourself with the wording of the Road Traffic Act 1988, section 165A. Put simply, if.... "the person fails to produce such evidence".......they can seize it.
Still bullst without an additional factor.
The officer must have reasonable grounds to believe the vehicle is being driven whilst uninsured
There in lies the rub. (Of newbies posting speculative posts without the full story)

I'm sure it will all come out in the wash.

Let's just wait...

pinchmeimdreamin

10,337 posts

231 months

Thursday 27th February
quotequote all
Bigends said:
EmailAddress said:
paul_c123 said:
CypSIdders said:
Utter drivel!
I suggest you familiarise yourself with the wording of the Road Traffic Act 1988, section 165A. Put simply, if.... "the person fails to produce such evidence".......they can seize it.
Still bullst without an additional factor.
The officer must have reasonable grounds to believe the vehicle is being driven whilst uninsured
Would the Database showing the OP insured previously but now someone else showing as insured be reasonable grounds .

Red9zero

8,639 posts

70 months

Thursday 27th February
quotequote all
My wife was stopped late at night (driving too slowly) and her car came up as uninsured, as did my car that she is also insured on. Her DoB came up as 2000, when it obviously (his words) isn't. The copper obviously realised something was up with his system, as he sent her on her way. Didn't stop her waking me up at 2am when she got home to check the insurance docs though laugh

martinbiz

3,561 posts

158 months

Thursday 27th February
quotequote all
pinchmeimdreamin said:
My take on the ops post.

Stopped by police for reasons unknown ( did they give a reason op ? )

For some reason car showing uninsured ( for op ) on database, police cannot contact insurer as middle of night so car seized

Op later proves he was indeed insured, so was able to get car back and therefore no need for fine and points.

Op now thinks he is entitled to compo.
Don't be silly, the OP is just trying to recover the costs of having his car seized, nothing to do with compensation

silver123

Original Poster:

132 posts

114 months

Thursday 27th February
quotequote all
mmm-five said:
What resolution are you looking for beyond getting your car back (which you have)?

Are you looking for some compensation, an apology, both?
Both ideally

silver123

Original Poster:

132 posts

114 months

Thursday 27th February
quotequote all
megaphone said:
What did you do wrong to get stopped?
They just said my car flagged up as insured under the previous owners insurance and uder my name. It came up on there system as i drove by them

silver123

Original Poster:

132 posts

114 months

Thursday 27th February
quotequote all
paul_c123 said:
You could buy something like this:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/226409969566?_skw=12v+p...

so you could charge the phone in the car; the point being, if you're not going to print out the documents and keep them in the glovebox, then you NEED to have your phone with you if you need to retrieve them to show insurance.

I suspect there's more to this than simply, your car was double insured - I find it hard to believe the police would go through with all the bother of seizing if there's a good chance insurance is in place. And I can understand why they'd not be going on a wild goose chase driving around to your house (if it was so near, could you have walked there and back?) Let me guess, the car is "interesting" or has been modified or its condition is "interesting"???
There isn't anymore to this than what i have written. It was around the corner i the car, walking is about a mile away ad i had to drop the kids off. I just left my phone at home at that moment as it was only driving a short distance and the battery was flat. You're just being unkind.