police

[silax]

ok this is what happened to me on a fleeting visit to uk.
with new girlfriend in her car and i'm driving cos she's knackered get stopped by police because car is only insured for a woman and i'm not one. i explain to mr plod that my spanish insurence proberbly covers me but he's not interested so as i can't give him a place where i actually live (happens when inbetween girlfriends) he is not happy and my driving licence address is from a house i sold 3 years ago dosen't do anything to appease him. luckilly i have my passport on me and although the photo's a crap one he beleives i'm not a terrorist.
so he gives me a bit of paper to produce my insurence docs which are in spain. anyway so far i'm ok with being stopped and questioned no probs these guys have a job to do. now he tells me he wants to impound the car knowing i have a flight early the next day. the passenger is fully legal to drive the car fortunatly she has all her docs on her but he still wants to impound the car. so i ask him what i'm supposed to do and how do i get it back. take into account this guy has already seen the legal docs for the car he wants to drop us off at a motorway service station where i can then get a taxi to the nearest police station produce the same documents hes just looked at.:doh then i have to get a taxi to the impound to get the car released. all this will cost me £105 to have the car realeased he then comes up with the idea if having a friendly word with the tow truck driver and i might be able to go with the car another £20 seems to be a friendly word.
so 2 hours and minus £125 i'm continuing my journey.
i now have nill respect for the police.
i can understand him stopping me and questioning me but impounding the car when its obvious to anybody with half a brain that its legal is beyond me.
:headbange

[jollyjayne]

i explain to mr plod that my spanish insurence proberbly covers me

Nice to see you back Silax BUT

If I had an accident driving someone else's car and I seriously injure someone in your family :8_1_215:I don't think you would be very impressed if my insurance probably (maybe it does, maybe it doesn't) covered me, would you ? ?

[silax]

yes of course jj but thats not what i'm ranting about its the fact of how much i was unnessaraerly peed about.
why impound the car ?
if i'm not insured i'll go to caught and be delt with by the courts deservedly so.
talking to a policeman i know he couldn't believe the vehicle was impounded the only people who made money was the recovery company and the driver and possibly the policeman

[Kaizer54]

An old indian once told me.....if you want to play the game, you have to pay for the chips Silax!
I know your circumstances were different but if everone paid insurance (and alot don't) we would all pay a bit less! I have to agree with JJ

[silax]

i'm not disagreeing with jj and the facts are this jumped up hitler got my car impounded for all of 2 seconds and cost me 2 hours of valuable time because i didn't have my insurence documents with me even though the passenger could quite legallt drive the car. in spain you have to carry your documents in the car at all times which is why i didn't have them.
considering as soon as i arrived in the country i put 6 months tax on this jalopy and through an mot within 24 hours of getting there.
now i'm gonna plead not guilty and i'm gonna cause the uk tax payer as much money as possible as having no income of such i'm entitled to legal aid i'm also gonna try and get my cash back for being impounded.
i might even sign on the dole next week just before i go to dubia.
if the hitler had just said ok there is a producer go on your way no probs considering i've had a clean driving licence for the last 20 years not even a speeding offence i really can't see what his problem was.

[Merlin]

i really can't see what his problem was.


He must have been a Mackem....Eddie....:laugh

[Win2Win]

Laws have changed since you left Silax, and lack if knowledge is not a defense. It is NORMAL practice ro impound the car if caught without proof of insurance. He was not 'picking on you', nor was he a 'jumped up little Hitler', he was himself abiding by the laws of the land as set down by government, and which the vast majority of legal drivers agree with.

Every Monday I drive through Queensferry, and once or twice a month, the police impound 200+ cars a day just on that small stretch of road.

We talked about this on the forum a few weeks ago, and agreed the police should be able to keep the car, and sell it for there own coffers. No insured driver would disagree with that, as it is there life & insurance at risk because of uninsured drivers.

....and welcome back to our wonderful country, now you remember why you left :laugh

[silax]

so everybody now carries all there car documents on them at all times.
the one thing i did leave out of my initial post was that i am actually insured for the car i was driving but couldn't prove it at the time although my passenger could prove that she was insured we still got impounded as a technicality. is this really sencible policing.
i am the first one to jump up and down on uninsured drivers or people speeding or generally breaking the law but unless its now compulsary to carry all documentation on you i was punished for not breaking the law

[Win2Win]

so everybody now carries all there car documents on them at all times.
I always have done, saves hassle if you are pulled up, and as far as I know, you are supposed to have them available for the very reasons you discovered.

[Onlyforfun]

You've hit on yet another monument to stupidity, the over-reliance of the authorities on the dreaded "database".

There is a database of all car insurance in the UK, which obviously has errors, but if your name isn't on it your car gets towed. And if any "public servant" (now there is an oxymoron) steps outside the rules and uses soem common sense he/she gets in the *****. Blame the copper's bosses..

[silax]

so off i've decided to take this one as far as possible without going to jail (hopefully) i thought about going to the press but decided againsy that stance as i for one agree with uninsurered moterists getting towed away but stupid policeman need to be pulled down a peg or 2 so as his name will appear on all the documents might be a bit of a fun ride.

[BULL1DOG]

I can sympathise with you, A while back I got pulled in a loan car that had out of date tax. The dealer hadn't taxed it and I never checked. I had my eldest lad in the car with me and when stopped pulled up out side my house policeman said I would need to produce documents at local cop shop. I said ang on I live here I'll nip and get them. "oh no said cop you might do a runner ",yer and leave my kid in the car. The guy was a *****.

The garage only gave me a copy of the insurance which I duly took to the cop shop, The nice sergeant said we're not supposed to accept copies but when I explained he also agreed the officer was a fornictor and accepted the dockit.

Not all coppers are good guys and some could do with taking a course in customer service.

[silax]

just to bring this upto date i didn't produce my docs at the copshop was out of the country and left various massages still waiting for a summons to arrive through the door but other then that have heard nothing although the officer did try to phone me up in spain 3 months ago.