Driver lost car in insurance blunder

4:24pm Thursday 31st May 2007

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A MAN had his car impounded after an insurance blunder lead to it being seized by the police when the computer mistakenly flagged it up as being uninsured.

And insurers Zurich have apologised for the mistake after Lee Robson, of Pennine Road, Bacup, was fined £60, given five penalty points and had his car impounded before the Bank Holiday weekend despite being insured since April.

An error by his insurance company easyMoney, under-written by Zurich Insurance, led to the Motor Insurance Database, used by the police, saying that his Ford Escort was uninsured.

The 32-year-old was pulled over by a police car while travelling eastbound on the M65 on Thursday night (May 24) just before junction five.

He said: "Because the computer said I had no insurance and I didn't have my insurance papers in the car they decided to impound my vehicle."

Mr Robson's car was impounded and placed in storage at a cost of £12 per day plus an additional £105 bill for towing.

But his insurers, easy-Money insurance, under-written by Zurich, have apologised and agreed to pay towing and storage charges.

Mr Robson said: "My insurers have agreed to put the money for the towing and storage in to my account.

"But it still meant that I was without my car for a number of days.

"I do not work and so I could not afford to pay the storage costs. The fact I am being penalised for keeping to the law is terrible."

The penalty points have been removed from Mr Robson's licence and his insurers have agreed to pay the towing and storage costs.

A Zurich spokesman said: "After investigations, we have discovered that through no fault of his own, Mr Robson's policy did not go through our normal procedures and therefore did not appear on the Motor Insurance Database.

"We have apologised to Mr Robson and do so again. We have also been in daily contact with him to ensure any inconvenience he suffered has been rectified.

"We are conducting an investigation to make sure others have not been placed in a similar position."

A police spokesperson said: "In this case the officer contacted Mr Robson's insurance provider and they informed him that Mr Robson was not insured with them.

"In reaction to this the officer seized the vehicle as is normal procedure."