Gang of British police arrest man for improperly-parked car -- when it wasn't

It was not, it has to be said, one of the police’s finest hours. A traffic officer ended up arrested outside his own home by a squad of three of his colleagues… who had swooped on the address after a neighbour complained about nothing more than the way his car was parked.

Unfortunately for traffic cop Roderick Lund his neighbour happened to be one of the constabulary’s retired superintendents, Anthony Green.

The three-man parking squad began using tape measures and chalk to ascertain exactly where PC Lund’s Range Rover was, relative to the entrance to Mr Green’s driveway. When PC Lund refused to move his 4x4 with its personalised number plate, he was arrested for obstructing the police.

The farcical episode only ended yesterday when it emerged that PC Lund, 40, has won £5,000 in damages from his own force. The climbdown came after video footage showed that his Range Rover – parked in the road in front of his house – wasn’t overlapping his neighbour’s drive.

The police descended on the road in the village of Catterall in Lancashire last October when Mr Green complained he couldn’t get on his driveway. He said the narrow road meant it was impossible to drive his outsized American-built Dodge Nitro truck on to his property without mounting the kerb.

Three officers arrived led by Inspector Dave Vickers, and – prudently, as it turned out – PC Lund began filming what unfolded with his video camera.

PC Lund – who is married with three step-children – is recorded complaining he’d be breaking the law if he moved the vehicle, saying: ‘I can’t move it, I had a drink last night.’ With the camera continuing to point at his senior colleague, Inspector Vickers tells him: ‘I’m warning you now, you will be arrested for police obstruction if you continue to do that.’

The constable then retorts ‘Go for it then’ at which the inspector begins reading him his rights as he pleads: ‘I’m not being aggressive - how is this aggressive?’ After being led away in handcuffs, PC Lund was taken to a police station in Morecambe, put in a cell and detained for ten hours before being released on bail.

The other police officers all knew he was a member of the Lancashire Constabulary’s traffic division. Mr Lund feared that the incident could lead to charges, so he began legal action against Lancashire Constabulary for unlawful arrest, false imprisonment and using unreasonable force. In an out-of-court settlement he was awarded £5,000.

His solicitor Rex Makin said his client had been humiliated by the officers who visited his home and suffered severe anxiety following his arrest. He added: ‘It’s a real shocker of a case that demonstrates precisely how police should not conduct themselves.’

Neither PC Lund nor Mr Green was available for comment last night, but a neighbour said: ‘They’ve been arguing over parking for ages, it’s been the talk of the street. ‘As a retired superintendent it seems Anthony tried to pull rank on him, but it turned out to be rather an expensive mistake.’

Original report here




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