Motorist drives into police van to stop his car after brakes fail

A driver, who was forced to drive his car into a police van to bring it to a stop, dialled 999 when the brakes failed on his MG ZS EV.  

Brian Morrison, 53, from Glasgow, said he was heading home from work on Sunday night when he said his new electric car became stuck at 30mph on the A803 heading towards Kirkintilloch, near Glasgow.

Morrison told the BBC that his car suffered a ''catastrophic malfunction'' and initially called his wife in a panic. He then called 999 when he grew concerned about crashing into pedestrians and navigating more roundabouts and traffic lights.

"The car was just running away on its own, there was nothing I could do," he said.

A Police Scotland spokesperson confirmed that at around 10.35pm on Sunday (October 1), it received a report of a driver unable to stop his electric car.

He said: “The car was travelling at a low speed and officers carried out a controlled halt with the aid of a police vehicle.

“There was no damage to either vehicle. The driver arranged for the vehicle to be recovered.”

Soon after calling the emergency services, three police vehicles arrived and drove in front and behind the car.

Officers decided to get him to crash into the back of their van before he got into a more built-up area.

"I still have no idea what happened," said Morrison. "But when the RAC got to me about three hours later, he plugged in the car to do a diagnostic check and there was pages of faults.

"He said he had never seen anything like it and decided he was not willing to turn the engine on to see what was wrong."

A statement from MG Motor UK said: “MG Motor UK has been urgently trying to make contact with Mr Morrison so that his vehicle can be fully inspected by our engineering team.

“We take this matter very seriously and now that contact has been made, we will be making every effort to resolve matters quickly and comprehensively for him.”