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A 30-year-old Reliant Robin - with four people on board - cutting up a police car then speeding off at 70 mph . . . in Del Boy's words "Cosmic!".

A jury - amid barely suppressed giggles - also saw the funny side this week and cleared threewheeler driver Gordon Maltby of dangerous driving.

The 1975-registered Reliant Robin - with its 47-stone load - was said to have overtaken an unmarked police car - sparks flying and front wheel rearing up in the air - and sped off into the distance along Coldham's Lane, Cambridge.

Officers in the police Ford Mondeo followed the three-wheeler - which hit speeds of 70mph, Sally Hobson, prosecuting, told the city's crown court.

But Mr Maltby's barrister, Nicola Devas, recounting anecdotes about the Reliant, preferred transport of the legendary Del Boy, told the jury: "As cars go, it's not what you would call a high performance vehicle - speed is not something you would normally associate it with. It's not an E-type Jaguar we are talking about here."

She said the two officers had over-egged the pudding about the incident and added: "The Reliant Robin is the butt of jokes.

Remember the one that asks: 'What do you call a Reliant Robin at the top of a hill - a miracle.'" One officer claimed the Reliant had overtaken them - in the face of oncoming traffic - so fast they could feel the vibration, and, pulling in at a 45 degree angle, the front wheel lifted off the ground and landed so hard they could see sparks.

The prosecution also claimed Mr Maltby had dangerously overtaken another car further along Coldham's Lane, causing a second oncoming vehicle to brake, before he turned into the Greyhound pub.

But the 45-year-old Reliant enthusiast, supported by his brother and nephew who, along with his girlfriend were passengers, told the court he overtook the Mondeo sensibly at 40 mph after it had slowed outside the Lexus garage. Mr Maltby, a cleaner at a residential care home at Waterbeach Lodge, Ely Road, Waterbeach, where he also lives, said claims that he had been driving dangerously were "rubbish" and that the vehicle was just not capable of doing 70 mph.

Graham Oakley, a former traffic policeman with Essex police, called as a vehicle expert by the defence, backed Mr Maltby's claims and describing the Reliant as "sluggish", adding: "If I had seen it at 70 mph I would have said:

'Bloody Hell.'" Although he examined the Reliant in February this year - almost two years after the alleged dangerous driving incident on June 25, 2005 - Mr Oakley maintained it was incapable of 70 mph, could not have created sparks on the road because it's made of fibreglass and could not have lifted its front wheel off the ground.

After the three-day case, a delighted Mr Maltby - who plans to drive the Reliant again once its head gasket is repaired - said the prosecution, which has taken two years to come to court, should never have been brought.

"It just didn't happen the way they described.

I've lost time and money over this," he said.

Will the officers now face disaplinary action?

Reading between the lines here... It sounds to me like the guy driving the Robin was fairly reckless, but then the Police over-egged the cake and blew the case.

They are perfectly capable of doing more than 70! My first car was a Reliant Rebel - their first attempt at a 4-legged small car and it was pretty slow but the three wheelers were actually quite quick because they were very light (to be able to drive them on a bike licence) and only had 3/4 of the rolling resistance! After the Rebel, I had a Bond Bug for a while and that really was quite quick. I had the later 850 engine in it and it could manage pretty near the "ton".

Obviously, the "lifting the front wheel" story is utter bunkum and if it ever DID lift it, the whole car would go over as soon as the wind got under the fibreglass front - which is a huge hollow "bag", effectively. I could easily believe that it lifted a rear wheel though - been there & done that!

Mmmmmmh! I'll have to think very hard here. I had a MK5 2.0L Cortina, I'd say around 1984, and one day whilst driving north on the M5 (Yes, it WAS built then) proceeding at a nice steady 80 mph in the slow lane (it was possible then) When I was overtaken at speed by a: RELIANT ROBIN! ......... My guess is between 85 / 90 mph!


I swear, spit, and lick my computer screen to vow that this is TRUE!.....

Reading between the lines here... It sounds to me like the guy driving the Robin was fairly reckless, but then the Police over-egged the cake and blew the case.

I daresay his driving may have been of a standard for the police to justifiably take an intrest, but their job is to report the facts with impartiality. Anything else abuses and undermines the power & trust they need to do their job.

I'm intrested, because in the past my experiences of coppers have been fairly positive, so much so that I've challenged the anti-police opinions of friends of mine (I'm well into the alternative music scene so this isn't a hard arguement to start). But my opinion of them as professional and fair people has been undermined by one or several more recent encounters. are the police as a service getting worse, or were my earlier encounters lucky? Or are the met significantly worse to deal with than other police forces? (I know they had a bit of a rep in the old days...)