Greater Manchester Police has apologised to a limousine hire operator after wrongly seizing a COIF approved Hummer vehicle.

The Hummerzine vehicle operated by Earls Limousines based in Manchester, was inspected and passed by VOSA officials at the Belle Vue Stadium, when traffic officers then enquired into the driver of the limousine.

Police apparently told the driver he was not covered to drive the limousine for hire and reward and the vehicle was impounded by the officers, leaving the operator with a string of pre-Christmas bookings which could not be fulfilled.

Owner, Jason Earl has now received an apology from the Police after they realised the mistake and also for more confusion as to where the vehicle was being stored – causing more stress and wasted time according to Mr Earl.

Jason told thechauffeur.com; “The driver has a full D Category on his license to drive any PCV vehicle. The Police said this did not cover this type of vehicle as it was a small PCV, requiring a D1 Category on his license. I spoke to the officer and explained he was wrong, but he would not accept this and impounded the vehicle based on this.”

He added; “Whilst we waited at the Police station the following day to recover the vehicle, we met another operator who had also had a vehicle impounded. He had spoken to the DVLA which confirmed that a D Category covers any PCV vehicle.”

In the letter, the Inspector offered to refund the £190 impounding fee, and is likely to recieve more than a thousand pounds compensation for loss of business from the Civil Litigation Department.

Hummerzine is the first company to be able to obtain a full Certificate of Initial Fitness on any Hummer H2 limousine. The company has apparently spent three years and hundreds of thousands of pounds to be able to provide the conversions.