A man who claimed his electric car malfunctioned on a motorway, but never pressed the brakes, has been jailed. Nathan Owen, 33, of The Grove, Prestatyn, North Wales, was sentenced to four years and three months in prison at Liverpool Crown Court on August 3. He was also disqualified from driving for five years and until an extended driving test has been passed.
False claim of brake failure
Owen called police to say his Jaguar I-PACE failed to stop while driving from Ormskirk, West Lancashire, to his then-home in Bolton. He had been travelling east on the M58, turned around at the Orrell Interchange near Wigan, and was heading towards Liverpool when he called 999. However, vehicle data showed the car was stationary on the roundabout at the end of the M58 at Orrell 30 seconds before the call.
In the 999 call, shared by Merseyside Police, Owen said: "I don't know how to explain it. My car's not stopping, so my car's just stuck at 70 mph, and I'm going down the motorway and I can't press any brakes."
Investigation and evidence
Owen's journey continued from the M58 to Switch Island, near Aintree, onto the M57 and then the M62. The car eventually stopped between junctions 11 at Birchwood and 12 for the M60 Eccles Interchange. Police dashcam footage showed officers trying to help bring the car to a stop, while Owen drove at speeds well above 80 mph. "The car's going crazy," Owen told the 999 call handler.
Merseyside Police conducted an extensive investigation with Jaguar Land Rover. It found the car had been functioning correctly, and that Owen had maintained control using the accelerator pedal. Data showed he did not press the brakes at any point, despite claiming to do so. The car only stopped safely on the M62 because its battery ran out of charge.
Financial motive
Following the incident on March 6, 2024, Owen was arrested one week later. He denied making the story up for financial gain, insisting the car had been faulty. But police found a high level of personal debt and multiple missed payments on the vehicle finance. Text messages from his mobile phone showed him discussing how to get rid of the vehicle, including getting it written off, in the months before the incident.
Owen was charged with two counts of fraud and dangerous driving. He pleaded guilty at a pre-trial review in June and was given an interim driving disqualification.
Detective Constable Michael Doyle, Roads Policing investigator at Merseyside Police, said: "This was a lengthy and complex investigation during which we able to disprove Owen’s claims that his vehicle was faulty. It was clear from our investigations that he was in full control of his vehicle throughout the duration of the incident. By his own admission there were workers on the hard shoulder of the motorway and he clearly put them and other road users in danger with his reckless actions."
