DRIVER JAILED FOR FAKE BRAKE FAILURE HOAX ON MOTORWAY

Nathan Owen, 33, of Prestatyn, north Wales, was jailed for four years and three months after falsely claiming his electric Jaguar I-Pace had suffered a brake failure on a motorway. Owen called 999 on 6 March 2024 whilst driving on the M57 in Merseyside, telling the call handler his car was "stuck at 78mph" and unable to stop. Liverpool Crown Court heard that Owen had fabricated the entire incident to escape his vehicle finance agreement and later sold his account to tabloid newspapers. Owen admitted dangerous driving and two counts of fraud at a previous hearing.

The court was told Owen's car travelled 38 miles across the M57 and M58 before police brought it to a stop by boxing it in on the M62 near Warrington. Prosecuting counsel Eric Lamb stated Owen had driven at speeds of up to 86mph, passed through red lights before entering the motorway, and collided with police vehicles during the pursuit. Police dashcam footage shown in court depicted Owen's vehicle tailing a police car dispatched to drive in front of him whilst he remained on the phone to a 999 call handler. Owen's original call to police actually took place whilst his car was stationary, occurring five minutes after his car finance company had rejected his request to borrow additional money.

Owen was charged with making false representations to CA Auto Finance, claiming the vehicle had been "accelerating on its own with the brakes unresponsive" to gain £4,426.49. A second fraud charge related to his false reporting of the same malfunction to newspapers, allegedly intending to cause loss to Jaguar Land Rover. The incident concluded with police successfully halting the vehicle through tactical manoeuvring without serious injury to Owen or officers involved.