PC Plod’s size-9 footprints have ruined our drive
THEY were just seven quick steps by a policeman in his hulking size nines – but they could cost his force £16,000. Susan and Simon Walker had just had the driveway of their detached home laid in resin-bonded gravel, and had been told not to walk on it until it dried.
But that evening they had a double shock when an officer strode across the still-wet drive and threatened to arrest Mr Walker, saying their £55,000 Porsche was a stolen car.
The Walkers – who had saved up for ten years to buy the second-hand Cayenne Turbo – had bought the 4x4 to mark their 25th wedding anniversary.
They are thought to be among dozens of victims of an unscrupulous car dealer suspected of an elaborate scam.
Twelve months later they are still battling to get their money back and are demanding £16,000 from the police, saying the driveway needs relaid.
Mrs Walker, 52, said yesterday: ‘It’s been a horrendous ordeal. We’re the victims in this, but we’ve been treated as criminals throughout. The police have made everything ten times worse for us.’
In August last year, the couple, from Hazel Grove near Stockport, bought 49-year-old Mr Walker’s dream car from a garage in Bolton.
However last October, hours after contractors had finished laying their driveway the police officer arrived to seize the car.
The garage owner they bought it from said he had been selling the Porsche on behalf of its original owner in Scotland, only for there to be a disagreement over the proceeds. But the garage was closed down shortly afterwards and the owner has since been charged with theft and is due for trial in December.
The couple, who run a pet hydrotherapy and rabbit boarding business, have put a complaint in to Greater Manchester Police.
But in a letter the force said it was not liable for the damage to the driveway as the actions of the officer were ‘lawful, reasonable, and necessary’ and there was ‘no signage or writing that stated that a new drive had been laid’.