I had motor insurance, claims crushed car driver

Police who thought a father-of-four from Lancashire was driving without motor insurance wrongly sent his car to be crushed after a technical error.

Steven Booth was driving to work in Bolton on January 8th when he was stopped by officers who informed him that their database showed that he had no motor insurance.

The police officers arranged for Mr Booth's car to be towed away while he stood watching from the side of the road. The vehicle was then crushed after Mr Booth failed to raise £105 for the car to be freed.

Motor insurance firm AA confirmed that Mr Booth was fully covered.

"His insurance was automatically updated on January 4th," stated Ian Crowder, head of insurance public relations at the motor insurance company.

Mr Booth claims that he told officers he was insured, saying: "I asked if I could produce my documents later in the day, but they said my car would be towed away and I was left stranded and had to walk into work."

A police spokesman said that an incident in Bolton occurring on January 8th had been brought to the attention of officers.

Founder of Safe Speed road safety campaign, Paul Smith, said that it was only a matter of time before a computerized mistake was made.

"Policing requires a human touch and cannot be successfully carried out by cameras or computers," he added.

Kwik-Fit Insurance was named 2006's cheapest online motor insurance provider by independent research


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