Taxi Driver Online

Police found £180k cash in boot of 'taxi driver's' car stopped on M6

A MOTORIST who claimed to be a taxi driver told police he had no knowledge of the £180,000 that officers found in the boot of his car.

Carlisle’s Rickergate Magistrates’ Court heard that the man was stopped as he drove southwards on the M6 in north Cumbria shortly before 6pm on August 22. The defendant was the car's sole occupant.

When the officers searched the car due to suspicions around potential drugs offences, they looked in the boot and found and estimated £180,000, mostly in Scottish bank notes.

The detective who applied for temporary detention of the cash said the driver provided police with a prepared statement, in which he denied having any knowledge of the cash. At the time he was stopped, claimed the man, he had been returning from a regular taxi journey after dropping off a customer.

The man, in his late 40s and from the Blackburn area, did not turn up for the brief hearing, which police used to make an application under the Proceeds of Crime Act, asking Deputy District Judge Andrew Garthwaite for permission to continue holding the case for six months.

This was so that police can continue to investigate its possible source. The detective in court said that the enquiries would include checking with the driver’s local authority area to confirm that he is registered as a taxi driver.

The investigation would look at whether there was any evidence of money laundering, she said.

The Deputy District Judge said he was satisfied that there were reasonable grounds for suspecting that the money was “recoverable” under Proceeds of Crime legislation. The application was not opposed.

The ruling is the latest in a long line of such applications to come before Cumbria's courts, collectively involving hundreds of thousands of pounds.

Many such cases are concluded with successful police applications to permanently seize the cash, which is ploughed back into the county's fight against crime.

Much of the money recovered was being transported along the M6, a recognised and pupular route for the transportation of drugs and criminal cash between towns and cities in the North West and Scotland.

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IDFIMH

If I had £180 in my boot I would know about it.

Let alone £180 grand.

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IDFIMH

so he lied about a VERY large sum of money in his bank account



I somehow doubt they'll find anything

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lack of modern legislation is the iceberg sinking the titanic of the transport sector

I think they've already found what they were looking for.

Another lucky stop.

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IDFIMH

I was of course refering to his claims to drive taxis but yes another nice donation to the proceeds of crime pot

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lack of modern legislation is the iceberg sinking the titanic of the transport sector