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Family's hell in m-way blunder

8/10/2008

POLICE closed a motorway slip road and forced a family to walk up it after ordering them out of their car because they wrongly believed the vehicle was uninsured.

Stephen Farndon and his wife Jane were made to carry their grandson, and shepherd their children, across and up the slip road off the M6.

The family were stopped by traffic officers on the hard shoulder next to the motorway's busy South Lakes exit at Junction 36 after a police computer mistakenly showed that their Ford Mondeo's insurance had lapsed.

The bemused couple grabbed what belongings they could carry, including the baby's buggy and clothing, then gathered the children and watched in disbelief as their car was towed away.

A police officer stopped traffic on the slip road as the family crossed it and walked up the right-hand side to the roundabout above to wait for a lift.

Stephen, Jane and her daughter Judy Bullis, 13, son Joshua Bullis, 10, and grandson Jacob Wild, then 12-months, were travelling from Sale to visit Jane's parents in Newby Bridge, Cumbria, when they were stopped.

Stephen, 46, said they felt `like a group of refugees'.

The IT consultant was left more than £500 out of pocket after travelling to collect his Ford Mondeo from a police pound by train three days later.

It later emerged that his insurers had failed to notify police of the insurance policy's renewal, meaning the details were not uploaded onto a national computer used by police to check driver's details by number plate recognition. His HSBC policy was renewed a month earlier.

Stephen said: "The police officer read me my rights and warned me that the fine for driving with no insurance was £200, with between six and eight points on my licence. It was a joke. We just couldn't believe what was happening."

"The police officer told me that the only way I could release the vehicle was if I showed him a certificate. I obviously could not do that. It was supposed to be a nice family day out. The next thing, we were like a bunch of refugees. It was surreal."

HSBC apologised and agreed to pay Stephen's £500 costs and £200 in compensation - for `stress and inconvenience'.

Human error

The company blamed `human error'.

Stephen said: "We had triggered an automatic number plate recognition system. I had definitely renewed it, but could not prove it by the side of the road.

"The police officer asked for my keys, which I gave him, then took me out of the vehicle and said he was booking me for driving without insurance. I was shocked."

Stephen was told that the car would be towed and taken to a storage depot. He was asked to produce his details within seven days at Kendal police station.

Stephen, who phoned his father-in-law for a lift, added: "The car was towed away as we watched. We unloaded it with as much as we could carry, all the baby equipment, the children's gear and the buggy.

"We stood by the side of the road as the officer stopped traffic. We had to walk the wrong way up the slip road to wait for the lift. I just couldn't believe it. It was not much fun for the children."

Stephen returned to Cumbria by train three days later and paid a £105 tow charge, £12 per day storage charges and £141 to have the car released.

In response to Stephen's letters, the Motor Insurers' Bureau confirmed that HSBC had failed to submit the policy renewal details to the Motor Insurers' Database, meaning that the police could not find the car on the system.

Stephen called for the system to be tightened and said: "Innocent people are being put out of pocket.

"You are perceived guilty by the side of the road before you get the chance to prove you are innocent."

Cumbria Constabulary confirmed the car was stopped at junction 36 of the northbound M6 on March 22, Easter Saturday, after it was shown to have no insurance. A spokeswoman said: "The vehicle was recovered. It is our understanding that it is the responsibility of the insurers to inform the police so that the database can be updated."

A HSBC spokesman said: "HSBC accepts that in this case human error on our part led to the policy details not being provided to the Motor Insurers' Bureau. We process more than one million policies every year from close to 1,000 brokers, and while we get it right the vast majority of the time, mistakes can be made. When problems do arise, we apologise and fix them as soon as possible. In this case, we have offered to pay our customer's costs incurred as well as compensation for the stress and inconvenience."
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