Driver lied about electric Jaguar accelerating on its own to get out of finance deal he couldn't afford
A fraudster who pretended his electric car was out of control on the motorway has been jailed
A fraudster who pretended his electric car was out of control on the motorway so he could get out of his lease deal has been jailed for four years and three months at Liverpool Crown Court.
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Nathan Owen, 33, from The Grove, Prestatyn, rang 999 pretending to be in a panic while claiming to be driving at high speed along the M58 on Merseyside.
In reality, his Jaguar iPace was stationary, and it was all part of a scam to try and extricate himself from the finance deal he could no longer afford.
Liverpool Crown Court heard how Mr Owen had been struggling to repay a £5,400 loan taken out to lease the vehicle and was trying to devise a plan to get the contract cancelled.
A text exchange between him and a friend revealed a conversation about the “best way to get rid of my car and get away with it”, to which his friend replied with “make a crash and get away with it”.
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The court was told that, on March 6, 2024, the day of the incident, Mr Owen had been in touch with his loan company, claiming to have received an email asking whether he would like to increase his borrowing.
The loan company dismissed this and five minutes later Mr Owen set the wheels in motion for his Plan B.
A recording of his 999 call was played in court where he could be heard saying he was shaking, that the car was stuck doing 78mph and that he only had 37 miles left on his range.
Multiple vehicles from the Road Policing Unit raced at speeds of up to 127mph to assist him and protect other road users while he weaved in and out of traffic along the M58, the M57 and eventually along he M62, texting his girlfriend at the same time, with video footage from one police car showing Mr Owen bumping into the rear of his vehicle 31 times before eventually running out of charge.
A mere forty minutes after his simulated nightmare came to an end, Mr Owen rang his finance company to report his version of events, before then selling his story to two separate newspapers for a total of £800.
But, following extensive investigations, it was found there was no issue with the Jaguar iPace and Mr Owen was charged with dangerous driving, causing a public nuisance and two counts of fraud; one relating to the claims about the defective vehicle and the second relating to the sale of his story to media outlets.
The judge in the case explained that there had been more than 180 different pieces of media coverage reporting on the false claims made by Mr Owen, and that Jaguar Land Rover had spent £50m in marketing to try and mitigate the damage done by negative press coverage.
Mr Owen’s defence team argued he had never been in trouble with the police before and that although this was a “frighteningly stupid” thing to have done, he “truly did not realise the far-reaching consequences of his actions.”